food street essay

Essay on Street Food

Students are often asked to write an essay on Street Food in their schools and colleges. And if you’re also looking for the same, we have created 100-word, 250-word, and 500-word essays on the topic.

Let’s take a look…

100 Words Essay on Street Food

Street food: a taste of culture.

Street food is food that is prepared and sold on the street, often from a cart or stall. It is a popular way to eat in many countries around the world, and it can be a great way to try new and different foods.

Variety and Affordability

Street food comes in many different varieties, from savory to sweet. There are also many different types of street food, such as tacos, hot dogs, kebabs, and dumplings. Street food is often affordable, making it a great option for people on a budget.

Cultural Experience

Eating street food is a great way to experience the culture of a new place. Street food can tell you a lot about the history, traditions, and people of a country. It can also be a great way to meet new people and make friends.

Convenience and Accessibility

Street food is convenient and accessible. It is often available 24 hours a day, and it can be found in many different places, such as markets, parks, and sidewalks. This makes it a great option for people who are on the go or who do not have time to cook.

250 Words Essay on Street Food

Street food: a culinary delight.

Street food is a diverse and vibrant aspect of many cultures around the world. It refers to food that is prepared and sold by vendors in public places, such as streets, markets, or parks. These foods are typically characterized by their affordability, convenience, and unique flavors.

Globally Renowned Street Foods

There are countless street food options available, each with its own distinct taste and preparation method. Some of the most popular street foods around the world include tacos from Mexico, falafel from the Middle East, pad thai from Thailand, and currywurst from Germany. These foods are not only delicious, but they also provide a glimpse into the local culture and traditions of the region.

Benefits of Street Food

Enjoying street food offers several benefits. It can be an affordable way to experience different cuisines without breaking the bank. Street food is also ideal for busy individuals who lack the time to sit down at a restaurant. Additionally, street food vendors often use fresh ingredients, making their food healthier than many fast-food options.

Concerns and Safety

It’s important to consider food safety when consuming street food. Vendors should maintain clean and sanitary conditions, and food should be properly cooked and stored. In some cases, street food may be prepared in unhygienic conditions, so it’s vital to be cautious when purchasing it.

Street food is a captivating aspect of global cuisine. It offers a diverse array of flavors and experiences at an affordable price. By embracing street food, we can explore different cultures, indulge in delectable dishes, and support local vendors who contribute to the vibrant street food scene.

500 Words Essay on Street Food

Street food: a culinary journey.

Street food, a global phenomenon, is a celebration of diverse culinary traditions and flavors. Beyond satisfying hunger, it’s an experience that captures the heart and soul of a place. From humble beginnings, street food has evolved into a vibrant and integral part of modern-day culture. Let’s explore the world of street food, its history, and the reasons behind its enduring popularity.

Food With a History

The roots of street food can be traced back centuries, possibly even millennia. In ancient times, street vendors sold simple snacks and meals to travelers and busy city dwellers. Over time, street food became more sophisticated, incorporating local ingredients and culinary techniques. Today, street food is an integral part of many countries and cultures, offering a delectable array of dishes that reflect the unique flavors and traditions of each region.

A Culinary Tapestry

The diversity of street food is truly astounding. From the aromatic curries of India to the savory tacos of Mexico and the tangy pad Thai of Thailand, street food offers a glimpse into the world’s culinary diversity. Whether it’s a steaming bowl of ramen from Japan or a juicy burger from the United States, street food provides a taste of different cultures, allowing us to explore the world without leaving our hometowns.

Affordability and Convenience

Affordability is one of the main reasons for the popularity of street food. Compared to traditional restaurants, street food is often much cheaper, making it accessible to people from all walks of life. The convenience of street food is another factor that contributes to its success. Street food vendors are typically located in busy areas, making it easy for people to grab a quick bite while they’re on the go.

A Taste of Community

Street food has a unique ability to bring people together. It creates a sense of community, as people from different backgrounds gather to enjoy delicious food and engage in lively conversations. The shared experience of eating street food can break down barriers and foster understanding among people from different cultures.

Challenges and Concerns

Despite its popularity, street food also faces challenges and concerns. Hygiene and safety are primary issues, as street food is often prepared and sold in unsanitary conditions. Additionally, the lack of regulation can lead to the use of low-quality ingredients and unhygienic practices. To address these concerns, governments and health authorities have implemented regulations and initiatives to ensure that street food is safe and healthy for consumption.

In conclusion, street food is a testament to the ingenuity and resilience of the human spirit. It has stood the test of time, evolving from humble beginnings to become an integral part of modern-day culture. Whether it’s a quick snack or a full meal, street food offers a delicious and affordable way to experience the world’s diverse culinary traditions.

That’s it! I hope the essay helped you.

If you’re looking for more, here are essays on other interesting topics:

• Essay on Street Beggars
• Essay on Stoicism
• Essay on Stock Market

Apart from these, you can look at all the essays by clicking here .

Happy studying!

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

OCTOBER 27, 2022

• INQUIRER.NET
• F&B REPORT
• LIFESTYLE.INQ F&B Report

Street food represents the stories of struggle, survival, and a nation’s sensibilities

• BY Sam Beltran
• April 5, 2023

Street food in the Philippines is a way of life and, at times, a point of contention. Despite strides Filipino food has been making overseas, particularly in the  United States , our local food continues to invite foreigners to provide strongly worded opinions about the cuisine, with a female writer once calling Filipino food “the worst in Asia.” One travel blogger, in particular, singled out our street food, who said she’d “rather starve” than eat it again.

While these incendiary reactions stoked online ire, allow me to pose a thought. Part of the reason why our street food does not fare well with tourists is the fact that these humble dishes are intrinsically local, serving local needs: societal nuances and complications included.

Revisiting Manila’s street food, from Doreen Gamboa-Fernandez’s ‘Tikim’

Although other cities such as Bangkok may have mastered the art of making their street-peddled dishes palatable to foreign visitors, the bowls and skewers that characterize  Manila’s street food  are borne out of urban grit and a need for survival. As Doreen Gamboa Fernandez writes in her essay on street food, Balut to Barbecue ,  “Street food in the Philippines is not only a convenience for those without time to cook, or an economic phenomenon that flourishes during hard times. It is a lifestyle.”

Although other cities such as Bangkok may have mastered the art of making their street-peddled dishes palatable to foreign visitors, the bowls and skewers that characterize Manila’s version are borne out of urban grit and a need for survival.

Largely catering to the working class, street carts and stalls are set up in jeepney and bus terminals, outskirts of residential neighborhoods, as well as on the sites of schools, workplaces, marketplaces, or even churches—typically away from the usual tourist stomping grounds. Street food is meant to be extremely affordable and convenient for the mobile commuter. Hence, day-old chicks, wiry intestines skewered on sticks, pig ears, and all things brown and charred may not make for the most appetizing delicacies for outsiders making their foray into the cuisine and expecting to be wowed.

Existing between time and space

Published in the ’90s, Fernandez’s view on street food in her essay is still largely reflective of the magnitude with which street food has grown today. Save for some minute details that date the material (the UP Shopping Center, which was lost to a fire in 2018, stands no more), the late food historian’s observations on street food as a culture remain: folded tables in residential neighborhoods; the array of eateries in bus terminals; cheap eats being sold at offices, schools, and construction sites; and “walking” street food such as peanuts or  taho  being sold by mobile vendors carrying baskets, often cheap morsels that take little to no time to assemble.

Compare this to the quintessential Filipino eating habits, usually bound by proper meals depending on the time of day. These mealtimes are typically taken sitting down at a dining table at home: agahan for umaga (morning); tanghalian for tanghali (noontime); hapunan for hapon (afternoon/evening). “Kumain nang tatlong beses sa isang araw” (Eat three times a day) is a baseline one hopes to achieve while straddling the poverty line, indicating that one has at least been fed well.

Being fast, cheap, and mobile can mean that street food serves an individual eater’s needs, who are usually relegated to one side as they quickly scarf down their snacks without a word.

Meanwhile, sitting squarely within that gray area of time and space exists street food. With its stalls taking up no more than a few square meters, one can be seated at a makeshift bench and monobloc table beside a cart on a sidewalk or simply stand up even as orders have arrived.

Being fast, cheap, and mobile can mean that street food serves an individual eater’s needs, who are usually relegated to one side as they quickly scarf down their snacks without a word.  Yet while its very concept is used to bridge hungers ( “ pangtawid gutom” as Fernandez calls it), one can also use it to substitute a proper meal altogether.

Fernandez writes, “The snacks on the street fill this function, and perhaps this is why they are not considered ‘serious’ meals and are given ‘unserious’ meals like ‘Adidas,’ ‘helmet,’ and ‘Walkman.’”

Then there is the  pack-up-and-go nature  of its peddlers’ carts and stalls as well as the transient state of its eaters. As many vendors are not confined to a single location, whether of their own accord or of the locale’s changing permits and regulations, so are its patrons. This type of food becomes a go-to for workers on the clock, students stalling time before heading home, or passengers grabbing a quick bite before the bus leaves. It may be a stopover, but hardly the final destination—that is to say, a proper “mealtime” at home that allows individuals to reconnect with their family members.

Redefining the concept of ‘street’ in street food

Street food in the Philippines  is still largely a small, fast, and cash-based operation for its vendors. Many of these establishments are family-run, earning just enough to afford a day’s meals for the family, enough cash profit for the next day’s capital, and a little extra.

Then, the pandemic occurred. While at its most fundamental definition, street food refers to food found on the street, recent times show that the lines between street and non-street food continue to blur.

Even in its digital reinvention, street food remained unbound by time, space, and concept.

As lockdowns introduced massive disruptions, this introduced an inadvertent cultural shift in how street food exists in the metro. With tightened mobility and border issues, street food was no longer relegated to the physical confines of being on the street or out of the open. The transient nature of street food in its most literal sense had been challenged, with remote work and school being the norm, with no jeepneys or other modes of public transport plying the roads.

Instead, pandemic businesses popped up left and right, beating the cabin fever of being confined at home while simultaneously acknowledging people’s needs for comfort meals at a time of uncertainty. Establishments of all sizes headily adapted online, as avenues such as Facebook Marketplace and online delivery platforms such as GrabFood and Foodpanda thrived.

Yet even in a peculiar time, street food remained fast, cheap, and mobile. Social media is free and easy to use, allowing carinderia owners and ihaw stall operators to hop on and pivot. Even in its digital reinvention, street food remained unbound by time, space, and concept: people ordered arroz caldo, isaw, pares, pork barbecue, and other cheap and filling eats, once consumed on the side of the streets, but now delivered by mobile riders plying them instead at virtually any time of the day.

With restrictions largely loosening since then, many of these street food businesses have returned to their physical setups. Meanwhile, those who have chosen to adapt to the new times maintained its online presence—diversifying the ways it could cater to a  changed diner profile  and its social media accounts.

And as cities such as Metro Manila continue to redefine the bounds of time and space, shaped by ever-changing factors, street food will be there to fill the bellies of its evolving locale.

If communal home dining is the beating heart of  Filipino cuisine , then street food is its artery. Needing no explanation or justification with outsiders of the culture, it permeates the city’s nooks and crannies, fueling the city’s hustlers and showcases a slice of daily life: from the rushing office worker in Makati lining up for a plate of sisig before lunch break ends, to the Bicolano transplant selling their family’s  laing recipe  along a roadside carinderia.

These represent the stories of struggle, survival, and a nation’s sensibilities, all taking place within the crevices of the metro with which its locals inhabit and live out their daily existence. And as cities such as Metro Manila continue to redefine the bounds of time and space, shaped by ever-changing factors, street food will be there to fill the bellies of its evolving locale.

This article was first published on FNB report. For more stories like this, visit https://fnbreport.ph/.

Subscribe to our daily newsletter

By providing an email address. I agree to the Terms of Use and acknowledge that I have read the Privacy Policy .

MOST VIEWED STORIES

• LIFESTYLE.INQ Fashion , LIFESTYLE.INQ Latest

Louis Vuitton holds Women’s Cruise 2025 show at Park Güell in Barcelona

• BY The Lifestyle.INQ Staff
• May 24, 2024

This Filipino resort wear brand is making waves in Tokyo

• BY Lala Singian

‘Historic’: Saudi Arabia stages first swimwear fashion show

• BY Agence France-Presse

• LIFESTYLE.INQ Art , LIFESTYLE.INQ Latest

In memoriam: Filipina artist Araceli Dans

• May 22, 2024

TOP STORIES

MORE FROM LIFESTYLE.INQ

FROM THE NICHE TITLES

CURRENT. DYNAMIC. INSIDER.

The latest in global fashion, beauty, and culture through a contemporary Filipino perspective.

CONNECT WITH US

• instagram.com/lifestyle.inq
• facebook.com/lifestyle.inq
• youtube.com/lifestyle.inq
• [email protected]

Stay in touch and get the latest stories from the LIFESTYLE.INQ newsletter

• ENTERTAINMENT
• HUMAN INTEREST

COPYRIGHT © LIFESTYLE INQUIRER 2022

• Social Justice
• Environment
• Health & Happiness
• Get YES! Emails
• Teacher Resources

• Give A Gift Subscription
• Teaching Sustainability
• Teaching Social Justice
• Teaching Respect & Empathy
• Student Writing Lessons
• Visual Learning Lessons
• Tough Topics Discussion Guides
• About the YES! for Teachers Program
• Student Writing Contest

Follow YES! For Teachers

Six brilliant student essays on the power of food to spark social change.

Read winning essays from our fall 2018 “Feeding Ourselves, Feeding Our Revolutions,” student writing contest.

For the Fall 2018 student writing competition, “Feeding Ourselves, Feeding Our Revolutions,” we invited students to read the YES! Magazine article, “Cooking Stirs the Pot for Social Change,”   by Korsha Wilson and respond to this writing prompt: If you were to host a potluck or dinner to discuss a challenge facing your community or country, what food would you cook? Whom would you invite? On what issue would you deliberate? 

The Winners

From the hundreds of essays written, these six—on anti-Semitism, cultural identity, death row prisoners, coming out as transgender, climate change, and addiction—were chosen as essay winners.  Be sure to read the literary gems and catchy titles that caught our eye.

Middle School Winner: India Brown High School Winner: Grace Williams University Winner: Lillia Borodkin Powerful Voice Winner: Paisley Regester Powerful Voice Winner: Emma Lingo Powerful Voice Winner: Hayden Wilson

Literary Gems Clever Titles

Middle School Winner: India Brown  

A Feast for the Future

Close your eyes and imagine the not too distant future: The Statue of Liberty is up to her knees in water, the streets of lower Manhattan resemble the canals of Venice, and hurricanes arrive in the fall and stay until summer. Now, open your eyes and see the beautiful planet that we will destroy if we do not do something. Now is the time for change. Our future is in our control if we take actions, ranging from small steps, such as not using plastic straws, to large ones, such as reducing fossil fuel consumption and electing leaders who take the problem seriously.

 Hosting a dinner party is an extraordinary way to publicize what is at stake. At my potluck, I would serve linguini with clams. The clams would be sautéed in white wine sauce. The pasta tossed with a light coat of butter and topped with freshly shredded parmesan. I choose this meal because it cannot be made if global warming’s patterns persist. Soon enough, the ocean will be too warm to cultivate clams, vineyards will be too sweltering to grow grapes, and wheat fields will dry out, leaving us without pasta.

I think that giving my guests a delicious meal and then breaking the news to them that its ingredients would be unattainable if Earth continues to get hotter is a creative strategy to initiate action. Plus, on the off chance the conversation gets drastically tense, pasta is a relatively difficult food to throw.

In YES! Magazine’s article, “Cooking Stirs the Pot for Social Change,” Korsha Wilson says “…beyond the narrow definition of what cooking is, you can see that cooking is and has always been an act of resistance.” I hope that my dish inspires people to be aware of what’s at stake with increasing greenhouse gas emissions and work toward creating a clean energy future.

 My guest list for the potluck would include two groups of people: local farmers, who are directly and personally affected by rising temperatures, increased carbon dioxide, drought, and flooding, and people who either do not believe in human-caused climate change or don’t think it affects anyone. I would invite the farmers or farm owners because their jobs and crops are dependent on the weather. I hope that after hearing a farmer’s perspective, climate-deniers would be awakened by the truth and more receptive to the effort to reverse these catastrophic trends.

Earth is a beautiful planet that provides everything we’ll ever need, but because of our pattern of living—wasteful consumption, fossil fuel burning, and greenhouse gas emissions— our habitat is rapidly deteriorating. Whether you are a farmer, a long-shower-taking teenager, a worker in a pollution-producing factory, or a climate-denier, the future of humankind is in our hands. The choices we make and the actions we take will forever affect planet Earth.

 India Brown is an eighth grader who lives in New York City with her parents and older brother. She enjoys spending time with her friends, walking her dog, Morty, playing volleyball and lacrosse, and swimming.

High School Winner: Grace Williams

Apple Pie Embrace

It’s 1:47 a.m. Thanksgiving smells fill the kitchen. The sweet aroma of sugar-covered apples and buttery dough swirls into my nostrils. Fragrant orange and rosemary permeate the room and every corner smells like a stroll past the open door of a French bakery. My eleven-year-old eyes water, red with drowsiness, and refocus on the oven timer counting down. Behind me, my mom and aunt chat to no end, fueled by the seemingly self-replenishable coffee pot stashed in the corner. Their hands work fast, mashing potatoes, crumbling cornbread, and covering finished dishes in a thin layer of plastic wrap. The most my tired body can do is sit slouched on the backless wooden footstool. I bask in the heat escaping under the oven door.

 As a child, I enjoyed Thanksgiving and the preparations that came with it, but it seemed like more of a bridge between my birthday and Christmas than an actual holiday. Now, it’s a time of year I look forward to, dedicated to family, memories, and, most importantly, food. What I realized as I grew older was that my homemade Thanksgiving apple pie was more than its flaky crust and soft-fruit center. This American food symbolized a rite of passage, my Iraqi family’s ticket to assimilation. 

 Some argue that by adopting American customs like the apple pie, we lose our culture. I would argue that while American culture influences what my family eats and celebrates, it doesn’t define our character. In my family, we eat Iraqi dishes like mesta and tahini, but we also eat Cinnamon Toast Crunch for breakfast. This doesn’t mean we favor one culture over the other; instead, we create a beautiful blend of the two, adapting traditions to make them our own.

 That said, my family has always been more than the “mashed potatoes and turkey” type.

My mom’s family immigrated to the United States in 1976. Upon their arrival, they encountered a deeply divided America. Racism thrived, even after the significant freedoms gained from the Civil Rights Movement a few years before. Here, my family was thrust into a completely unknown world: they didn’t speak the language, they didn’t dress normally, and dinners like riza maraka seemed strange in comparison to the Pop Tarts and Oreos lining grocery store shelves.

 If I were to host a dinner party, it would be like Thanksgiving with my Chaldean family. The guests, my extended family, are a diverse people, distinct ingredients in a sweet potato casserole, coming together to create a delicious dish.

In her article “Cooking Stirs the Pot for Social Change,” Korsha Wilson writes, “each ingredient that we use, every technique, every spice tells a story about our access, our privilege, our heritage, and our culture.” Voices around the room will echo off the walls into the late hours of the night while the hot apple pie steams at the table’s center.

We will play concan on the blanketed floor and I’ll try to understand my Toto, who, after forty years, still speaks broken English. I’ll listen to my elders as they tell stories about growing up in Unionville, Michigan, a predominately white town where they always felt like outsiders, stories of racism that I have the privilege not to experience. While snacking on sunflower seeds and salted pistachios, we’ll talk about the news- how thousands of people across the country are protesting for justice among immigrants. No one protested to give my family a voice.

Our Thanksgiving food is more than just sustenance, it is a physical representation of my family ’s blended and ever-changing culture, even after 40 years in the United States. No matter how the food on our plates changes, it will always symbolize our sense of family—immediate and extended—and our unbreakable bond.

Grace Williams, a student at Kirkwood High School in Kirkwood, Missouri, enjoys playing tennis, baking, and spending time with her family. Grace also enjoys her time as a writing editor for her school’s yearbook, the Pioneer. In the future, Grace hopes to continue her travels abroad, as well as live near extended family along the sunny beaches of La Jolla, California.

University Winner: Lillia Borodkin

Nourishing Change After Tragedy Strikes

In the Jewish community, food is paramount. We often spend our holidays gathered around a table, sharing a meal and reveling in our people’s story. On other sacred days, we fast, focusing instead on reflection, atonement, and forgiveness.

As a child, I delighted in the comfort of matzo ball soup, the sweetness of hamantaschen, and the beauty of braided challah. But as I grew older and more knowledgeable about my faith, I learned that the origins of these foods are not rooted in joy, but in sacrifice.

The matzo of matzo balls was a necessity as the Jewish people did not have time for their bread to rise as they fled slavery in Egypt. The hamantaschen was an homage to the hat of Haman, the villain of the Purim story who plotted the Jewish people’s destruction. The unbaked portion of braided challah was tithed by commandment to the kohen  or priests. Our food is an expression of our history, commemorating both our struggles and our triumphs.

As I write this, only days have passed since eleven Jews were killed at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh. These people, intending only to pray and celebrate the Sabbath with their community, were murdered simply for being Jewish. This brutal event, in a temple and city much like my own, is a reminder that anti-Semitism still exists in this country. A reminder that hatred of Jews, of me, my family, and my community, is alive and flourishing in America today. The thought that a difference in religion would make some believe that others do not have the right to exist is frightening and sickening.  

 This is why, if given the chance, I would sit down the entire Jewish American community at one giant Shabbat table. I’d serve matzo ball soup, pass around loaves of challah, and do my best to offer comfort. We would take time to remember the beautiful souls lost to anti-Semitism this October and the countless others who have been victims of such hatred in the past. I would then ask that we channel all we are feeling—all the fear, confusion, and anger —into the fight.

As suggested in Korsha Wilson’s “Cooking Stirs the Pot for Social Change,” I would urge my guests to direct our passion for justice and the comfort and care provided by the food we are eating into resisting anti-Semitism and hatred of all kinds.

We must use the courage this sustenance provides to create change and honor our people’s suffering and strength. We must remind our neighbors, both Jewish and non-Jewish, that anti-Semitism is alive and well today. We must shout and scream and vote until our elected leaders take this threat to our community seriously. And, we must stand with, support, and listen to other communities that are subjected to vengeful hate today in the same way that many of these groups have supported us in the wake of this tragedy.

This terrible shooting is not the first of its kind, and if conflict and loathing are permitted to grow, I fear it will not be the last. While political change may help, the best way to target this hate is through smaller-scale actions in our own communities.

It is critical that we as a Jewish people take time to congregate and heal together, but it is equally necessary to include those outside the Jewish community to build a powerful crusade against hatred and bigotry. While convening with these individuals, we will work to end the dangerous “otherizing” that plagues our society and seek to understand that we share far more in common than we thought. As disagreements arise during our discussions, we will learn to respect and treat each other with the fairness we each desire. Together, we shall share the comfort, strength, and courage that traditional Jewish foods provide and use them to fuel our revolution. 

We are not alone in the fight despite what extremists and anti-semites might like us to believe.  So, like any Jew would do, I invite you to join me at the Shabbat table. First, we will eat. Then, we will get to work.  

Lillia Borodkin is a senior at Kent State University majoring in Psychology with a concentration in Child Psychology. She plans to attend graduate school and become a school psychologist while continuing to pursue her passion for reading and writing. Outside of class, Lillia is involved in research in the psychology department and volunteers at the Women’s Center on campus.   

Powerful Voice Winner: Paisley Regester

As a kid, I remember asking my friends jokingly, ”If you were stuck on a deserted island, what single item of food would you bring?” Some of my friends answered practically and said they’d bring water. Others answered comically and said they’d bring snacks like Flamin’ Hot Cheetos or a banana. However, most of my friends answered sentimentally and listed the foods that made them happy. This seems like fun and games, but what happens if the hypothetical changes? Imagine being asked, on the eve of your death, to choose the final meal you will ever eat. What food would you pick? Something practical? Comical? Sentimental?  

This situation is the reality for the 2,747 American prisoners who are currently awaiting execution on death row. The grim ritual of “last meals,” when prisoners choose their final meal before execution, can reveal a lot about these individuals and what they valued throughout their lives.

It is difficult for us to imagine someone eating steak, lobster tail, apple pie, and vanilla ice cream one moment and being killed by state-approved lethal injection the next. The prisoner can only hope that the apple pie he requested tastes as good as his mom’s. Surprisingly, many people in prison decline the option to request a special last meal. We often think of food as something that keeps us alive, so is there really any point to eating if someone knows they are going to die?

“Controlling food is a means of controlling power,” said chef Sean Sherman in the YES! Magazine article “Cooking Stirs the Pot for Social Change,” by Korsha Wilson. There are deeper stories that lie behind the final meals of individuals on death row.

I want to bring awareness to the complex and often controversial conditions of this country’s criminal justice system and change the common perception of prisoners as inhuman. To accomplish this, I would host a potluck where I would recreate the last meals of prisoners sentenced to death.

In front of each plate, there would be a place card with the prisoner’s full name, the date of execution, and the method of execution. These meals could range from a plate of fried chicken, peas with butter, apple pie, and a Dr. Pepper, reminiscent of a Sunday dinner at Grandma’s, to a single olive.

Seeing these meals up close, meals that many may eat at their own table or feed to their own kids, would force attendees to face the reality of the death penalty. It will urge my guests to look at these individuals not just as prisoners, assigned a number and a death date, but as people, capable of love and rehabilitation.  

This potluck is not only about realizing a prisoner’s humanity, but it is also about recognizing a flawed criminal justice system. Over the years, I have become skeptical of the American judicial system, especially when only seven states have judges who ethnically represent the people they serve. I was shocked when I found out that the officers who killed Michael Brown and Anthony Lamar Smith were exonerated for their actions. How could that be possible when so many teens and adults of color have spent years in prison, some even executed, for crimes they never committed?  

Lawmakers, police officers, city officials, and young constituents, along with former prisoners and their families, would be invited to my potluck to start an honest conversation about the role and application of inequality, dehumanization, and racism in the death penalty. Food served at the potluck would represent the humanity of prisoners and push people to acknowledge that many inmates are victims of a racist and corrupt judicial system.

Recognizing these injustices is only the first step towards a more equitable society. The second step would be acting on these injustices to ensure that every voice is heard, even ones separated from us by prison walls. Let’s leave that for the next potluck, where I plan to serve humble pie.

Paisley Regester is a high school senior and devotes her life to activism, the arts, and adventure. Inspired by her experiences traveling abroad to Nicaragua, Mexico, and Scotland, Paisley hopes to someday write about the diverse people and places she has encountered and share her stories with the rest of the world.

Powerful Voice Winner: Emma Lingo

The Empty Seat

“If you aren’t sober, then I don’t want to see you on Christmas.”

Harsh words for my father to hear from his daughter but words he needed to hear. Words I needed him to understand and words he seemed to consider as he fiddled with his wine glass at the head of the table. Our guests, my grandma, and her neighbors remained resolutely silent. They were not about to defend my drunken father–or Charles as I call him–from my anger or my ultimatum.

This was the first dinner we had had together in a year. The last meal we shared ended with Charles slopping his drink all over my birthday presents and my mother explaining heroin addiction to me. So, I wasn’t surprised when Charles threw down some liquid valor before dinner in anticipation of my anger. If he wanted to be welcomed on Christmas, he needed to be sober—or he needed to be gone.

Countless dinners, holidays, and birthdays taught me that my demands for sobriety would fall on deaf ears. But not this time. Charles gave me a gift—a one of a kind, limited edition, absolutely awkward treat. One that I didn’t know how to deal with at all. Charles went home that night, smacked a bright red bow on my father, and hand-delivered him to me on Christmas morning.

He arrived for breakfast freshly showered and looking flustered. He would remember this day for once only because his daughter had scolded him into sobriety. Dad teetered between happiness and shame. Grandma distracted us from Dad’s presence by bringing the piping hot bacon and biscuits from the kitchen to the table, theatrically announcing their arrival. Although these foods were the alleged focus of the meal, the real spotlight shined on the unopened liquor cabinet in my grandma’s kitchen—the cabinet I know Charles was begging Dad to open.

I’ve isolated myself from Charles. My family has too. It means we don’t see Dad, but it’s the best way to avoid confrontation and heartache. Sometimes I find myself wondering what it would be like if we talked with him more or if he still lived nearby. Would he be less inclined to use? If all families with an addict tried to hang on to a relationship with the user, would there be fewer addicts in the world? Christmas breakfast with Dad was followed by Charles whisking him away to Colorado where pot had just been legalized. I haven’t talked to Dad since that Christmas.

As Korsha Wilson stated in her YES! Magazine article, “Cooking Stirs the Pot for Social Change,” “Sometimes what we don’t cook says more than what we do cook.” When it comes to addiction, what isn’t served is more important than what is. In quiet moments, I like to imagine a meal with my family–including Dad. He’d have a spot at the table in my little fantasy. No alcohol would push him out of his chair, the cigarettes would remain seated in his back pocket, and the stench of weed wouldn’t invade the dining room. Fruit salad and gumbo would fill the table—foods that Dad likes. We’d talk about trivial matters in life, like how school is going and what we watched last night on TV.

Dad would feel loved. We would connect. He would feel less alone. At the end of the night, he’d walk me to the door and promise to see me again soon. And I would believe him.

Emma Lingo spends her time working as an editor for her school paper, reading, and being vocal about social justice issues. Emma is active with many clubs such as Youth and Government, KHS Cares, and Peer Helpers. She hopes to be a journalist one day and to be able to continue helping out people by volunteering at local nonprofits.

Powerful Voice Winner: Hayden Wilson

Bittersweet Reunion

I close my eyes and envision a dinner of my wildest dreams. I would invite all of my relatives. Not just my sister who doesn’t ask how I am anymore. Not just my nephews who I’m told are too young to understand me. No, I would gather all of my aunts, uncles, and cousins to introduce them to the me they haven’t met.

For almost two years, I’ve gone by a different name that most of my family refuses to acknowledge. My aunt, a nun of 40 years, told me at a recent birthday dinner that she’d heard of my “nickname.” I didn’t want to start a fight, so I decided not to correct her. Even the ones who’ve adjusted to my name have yet to recognize the bigger issue.

Last year on Facebook, I announced to my friends and family that I am transgender. No one in my family has talked to me about it, but they have plenty to say to my parents. I feel as if this is about my parents more than me—that they’ve made some big parenting mistake. Maybe if I invited everyone to dinner and opened up a discussion, they would voice their concerns to me instead of my parents.

I would serve two different meals of comfort food to remind my family of our good times. For my dad’s family, I would cook heavily salted breakfast food, the kind my grandpa used to enjoy. He took all of his kids to IHOP every Sunday and ordered the least healthy option he could find, usually some combination of an overcooked omelet and a loaded Classic Burger. For my mom’s family, I would buy shakes and burgers from Hardee’s. In my grandma’s final weeks, she let aluminum tins of sympathy meals pile up on her dining table while she made my uncle take her to Hardee’s every day.

In her article on cooking and activism, food writer Korsha Wilson writes, “Everyone puts down their guard over a good meal, and in that space, change is possible.” Hopefully the same will apply to my guests.

When I first thought of this idea, my mind rushed to the endless negative possibilities. My nun-aunt and my two non-nun aunts who live like nuns would whip out their Bibles before I even finished my first sentence. My very liberal, state representative cousin would say how proud she is of the guy I’m becoming, but this would trigger my aunts to accuse her of corrupting my mind. My sister, who has never spoken to me about my genderidentity, would cover her children’s ears and rush them out of the house. My Great-Depression-raised grandparents would roll over in their graves, mumbling about how kids have it easy nowadays.

After mentally mapping out every imaginable terrible outcome this dinner could have, I realized a conversation is unavoidable if I want my family to accept who I am. I long to restore the deep connection I used to have with them. Though I often think these former relationships are out of reach, I won’t know until I try to repair them. For a year and a half, I’ve relied on Facebook and my parents to relay messages about my identity, but I need to tell my own story.

At first, I thought Korsha Wilson’s idea of a cooked meal leading the way to social change was too optimistic, but now I understand that I need to think more like her. Maybe, just maybe, my family could all gather around a table, enjoy some overpriced shakes, and be as close as we were when I was a little girl.

 Hayden Wilson is a 17-year-old high school junior from Missouri. He loves writing, making music, and painting. He’s a part of his school’s writing club, as well as the GSA and a few service clubs.

 Literary Gems

We received many outstanding essays for the Fall 2018 Writing Competition. Though not every participant can win the contest, we’d like to share some excerpts that caught our eye.

Thinking of the main staple of the dish—potatoes, the starchy vegetable that provides sustenance for people around the globe. The onion, the layers of sorrow and joy—a base for this dish served during the holidays.  The oil, symbolic of hope and perseverance. All of these elements come together to form this delicious oval pancake permeating with possibilities. I wonder about future possibilities as I flip the latkes.

—Nikki Markman, University of San Francisco, San Francisco, California

The egg is a treasure. It is a fragile heart of gold that once broken, flows over the blemishless surface of the egg white in dandelion colored streams, like ribbon unraveling from its spool.

—Kaylin Ku, West Windsor-Plainsboro High School South, Princeton Junction, New Jersey

If I were to bring one food to a potluck to create social change by addressing anti-Semitism, I would bring gefilte fish because it is different from other fish, just like the Jews are different from other people.  It looks more like a matzo ball than fish, smells extraordinarily fishy, and tastes like sweet brine with the consistency of a crab cake.

—Noah Glassman, Ethical Culture Fieldston School,  Bronx, New York

I would not only be serving them something to digest, I would serve them a one-of-a-kind taste of the past, a taste of fear that is felt in the souls of those whose home and land were taken away, a taste of ancestral power that still lives upon us, and a taste of the voices that want to be heard and that want the suffering of the Natives to end.

—Citlalic Anima Guevara, Wichita North High School, Wichita, Kansas

It’s the one thing that your parents make sure you have because they didn’t.  Food is what your mother gives you as she lies, telling you she already ate. It’s something not everybody is fortunate to have and it’s also what we throw away without hesitation.  Food is a blessing to me, but what is it to you?

—Mohamed Omar, Kirkwood High School, Kirkwood, Missouri

Filleted and fried humphead wrasse, mangrove crab with coconut milk, pounded taro, a whole roast pig, and caramelized nuts—cuisines that will not be simplified to just “food.” Because what we eat is the diligence and pride of our people—a culture that has survived and continues to thrive.

—Mayumi Remengesau, University of San Francisco, San Francisco, California

Some people automatically think I’m kosher or ask me to say prayers in Hebrew.  However, guess what? I don’t know many prayers and I eat bacon.

—Hannah Reing, Ethical Culture Fieldston School, The Bronx, New York

Everything was placed before me. Rolling up my sleeves I started cracking eggs, mixing flour, and sampling some chocolate chips, because you can never be too sure. Three separate bowls. All different sizes. Carefully, I tipped the smallest, and the medium-sized bowls into the biggest. Next, I plugged in my hand-held mixer and flicked on the switch. The beaters whirl to life. I lowered it into the bowl and witnessed the creation of something magnificent. Cookie dough.

—Cassandra Amaya, Owen Goodnight Middle School, San Marcos, Texas

Biscuits and bisexuality are both things that are in my life…My grandmother’s biscuits are the best: the good old classic Southern biscuits, crunchy on the outside, fluffy on the inside. Except it is mostly Southern people who don’t accept me.

—Jaden Huckaby, Arbor Montessori, Decatur, Georgia

We zest the bright yellow lemons and the peels of flavor fall lightly into the batter.  To make frosting, we keep adding more and more powdered sugar until it looks like fluffy clouds with raspberry seed rain.

—Jane Minus, Ethical Culture Fieldston School, Bronx, New York

Tamales for my grandma, I can still remember her skillfully spreading the perfect layer of masa on every corn husk, looking at me pitifully as my young hands fumbled with the corn wrapper, always too thick or too thin.

—Brenna Eliaz, San Marcos High School, San Marcos, Texas

Just like fry bread, MRE’s (Meals Ready to Eat) remind New Orleanians and others affected by disasters of the devastation throughout our city and the little amount of help we got afterward.

—Madeline Johnson, Spring Hill College, Mobile, Alabama

I would bring cream corn and buckeyes and have a big debate on whether marijuana should be illegal or not.

—Lillian Martinez, Miller Middle School, San Marcos, Texas

We would finish the meal off with a delicious apple strudel, topped with schlag, schlag, schlag, more schlag, and a cherry, and finally…more schlag (in case you were wondering, schlag is like whipped cream, but 10 times better because it is heavier and sweeter).

—Morgan Sheehan, Ethical Culture Fieldston School, Bronx, New York

Clever Titles

This year we decided to do something different. We were so impressed by the number of catchy titles that we decided to feature some of our favorites. 

“Eat Like a Baby: Why Shame Has No Place at a Baby’s Dinner Plate”

—Tate Miller, Wichita North High School, Wichita, Kansas 

“The Cheese in Between”

—Jedd Horowitz, Ethical Culture Fieldston School, Bronx, New York

“Harvey, Michael, Florence or Katrina? Invite Them All Because Now We Are Prepared”

—Molly Mendoza, Spring Hill College, Mobile, Alabama

“Neglecting Our Children: From Broccoli to Bullets”

—Kylie Rollings, Kirkwood High School, Kirkwood, Missouri  

“The Lasagna of Life”

—Max Williams, Wichita North High School, Wichita, Kansas

“Yum, Yum, Carbon Dioxide In Our Lungs”

—Melanie Eickmeyer, Kirkwood High School, Kirkwood, Missouri

“My Potluck, My Choice”

—Francesca Grossberg, Ethical Culture Fieldston School, Bronx, New York

“Trumping with Tacos”

—Maya Goncalves, Lincoln Middle School, Ypsilanti, Michigan

“Quiche and Climate Change”

—Bernie Waldman, Ethical Culture Fieldston School, Bronx, New York

“Biscuits and Bisexuality”

“W(health)”

—Miles Oshan, San Marcos High School, San Marcos, Texas

“Bubula, Come Eat!”

—Jordan Fienberg, Ethical Culture Fieldston School,  Bronx, New York

Get Stories of Solutions to Share with Your Classroom

Teachers save 50% on YES! Magazine.

Inspiration in Your Inbox

Get the free daily newsletter from YES! Magazine: Stories of people creating a better world to inspire you and your students.

The Foodie Travels

Tasting My Way Around The World

Exploring the Vibrant Street Food Culture of Bangalore

Welcome to the gastronomic paradise of Bangalore! Renowned for its rich culinary heritage, this bustling city offers a delightful array of street food that will tantalize your taste buds. Join us on a culinary adventure as we dive into the vibrant street food culture of Bangalore, uncovering iconic local snacks, famous street food markets, and the sheer joy of indulging in flavoursome street delicacies.

Iconic Local Snacks:

One cannot explore Bangalore’s street food culture without indulging in its iconic local snacks. Start your culinary journey with the ever-popular masala dosa, a savoury pancake made from fermented rice and lentil batter, served with a spicy potato filling and a variety of chutneys. The crispy exterior and soft, flavorful filling make it a favourite among locals and tourists alike.

Another must-try snack is the lip-smacking vada pav, a street food sensation that originated in Mumbai but has found a special place in Bangalore’s culinary scene. This delectable combination of a spicy potato patty served in a soft bun with chutneys and fried green chilli, will leave you craving for more.

Famous Street Food Markets:

Bangalore is dotted with bustling street food markets where you can witness the vibrant energy and culinary diversity of the city. One such iconic market is VV Puram Food Street, a food lover’s paradise. From crispy Akki Rottis to piping hot Paddus and an array of chaats, this street is a haven for food enthusiasts.

Another gem is Malleshwaram 8th Cross Food Street, known for its authentic South Indian snacks and sweets. Here, you can savour the flavours of hot and crispy Bajjis, masala puris, and the ever-tempting Kesari bath.

The Joy of Indulging in Street Delicacies:

One of the most exciting aspects of Bangalore’s street food culture is the experience itself. Picture yourself standing by a street cart, the aromatic spices mingling in the air as the skilled vendors whip up delicious treats right before your eyes. The sights, sounds, and scents will transport you into a world of culinary bliss.

As you relish each bite, you’ll notice the beautiful amalgamation of flavours, textures, and spices that make Bangalore’s street food truly unique. Whether it’s the tanginess of tamarind chutney or the kick of green chillies, each element contributes to a harmonious explosion of taste.

Conclusion:

Bangalore’s street food culture is a celebration of flavours, creativity, and the spirit of the city. From the iconic local snacks that have become culinary legends to the bustling street food markets that offer a feast for the senses, Bangalore’s street food scene is a treasure trove of gastronomic delights.

So, venture out and explore the streets of Bangalore, indulge in the diverse street delicacies, and immerse yourself in the vibrant street food culture. Your taste buds will thank you for the unforgettable experience of savouring the essence of Bangalore through its street food.

Remember to always follow hygiene practices and visit trusted street food vendors to ensure a safe and enjoyable culinary adventure.

Jayanth Dev

Jayanth Dev was born on 1st April 1989 in Bangalore, India. He developed an early interest in writing as a result of his fascination as a child with the stories that appeared to him in his dreams. As most of his writings are typically reflections of his dreams, many people refer to him as a dream writer. His passion for the Old Scriptures sparked creative insights that helped him craft lovely tales that are present in all of his novels.

Related Posts

Aahara Restaurant, RR Nagar, Bangalore | Unlimited Biryani Meals

Aahara is a newly launched Restaurant located in RR Nagar,…

SGS Non-Veg Restaurant | Review Of The Original Chickpet Donne Biryani

SGS Non-Veg is a restaurant located in Chickpet or Cottonpet…

Madhan Fish Tawa Fry Review | Bangalore’s Unique Street Food

Madhan Fish Tawa Fry is one of Bangalore‘s Unique Street…

An official website of the United States government

The .gov means it’s official. Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

The site is secure. The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

• Publications
• Account settings

Preview improvements coming to the PMC website in October 2024. Learn More or Try it out now .

• Advanced Search
• Journal List

Interactions between Street Food and Food Safety Topics in the Scientific Literature—A Bibliometric Analysis with Science Mapping

Claudio bellia.

1 Department of Agricultural Food and Environment (Di3A), Università degli Studi di Catania, 95100 Catania, Italy; [email protected]

Simona Bacarella

2 Department of Agricultural, Food and Forest Sciences (SAAF), Università degli Studi di Palermo, 90128 Palermo, Italy; [email protected]

Marzia Ingrassia

Associated data.

Not applicable.

Street food (SF) consists of ready-to-eat food prepared and sold on the street. This food constitutes the food traditions of local populations in many countries of the world. SF characterizes a large number of cities around the world, from New York to Paris, from Palermo to cities of North Africa, China, India and Japan. SF is inexpensive and prepared following traditional methods that meet local consumer preferences, culinary culture and lifestyles. Moreover, SF allows a unique experience for tourists who also want to experience a destination through traditional food consumed on the street together with the locals. Nevertheless, SF is linked to several health hazards. Hence, several studies discussed on the compliance with hygiene and food quality requirements that SF vendors should guarantee, to ensure human health. So far, there is no bibliometric review attempting to provide an objective and comprehensive analysis of the existing scientific documents that simultaneously study the scientific topic of SF linked to that of Food Safety (FS). Therefore, the objective of this paper is to provide a theoretical framework of the interactions between studies on SF and FS topics, in order to discover if the combined topic of “Street Food Safety” (SFS) was investigated as a topic in its own right. A bibliometric analysis was carried out analyzing 276 scientific contributions from the last 21 years, indexed in the Elsevier Scopus database and in the Clarivate Web of Science database. The results showed a very strong interaction between the two topics and many others in several scientific sectors; In particular, the topic of SFS involves many disciplines of social sciences. The results highlight that the scientific topic of SFS exists but not consciously, and it is believed that the research interest in this topic can grow considerably in the coming years, also because of the current COVID-19 pandemic situation that we are experiencing.

1. Introduction

Street food (SF) belongs to the culture of many populations around the world. In particular, it is a food usually eaten in many cities of continents such as Africa, India, Asia and Latin America [ 1 ]. Street food and street food vendors are particularly popular in under-developed regions and countries, where they constitute a relevant part of their economy [ 2 , 3 , 4 ]. However, SF represents a fundamental part of the eating habits in many cities of the most developed countries. As a fundamental part of the local culture, SF is often an attraction for visitors/tourists in many cities and countries of the world (e.g., New York in the USA, Paris, Vienna, Lisbon, Madrid, Rome and Palermo in Europe, but also in Greece, Turkey and other countries of the Mediterranean Basin) [ 5 , 6 ]. According to the FAO definition, street foods are ready-to-eat foods and beverages prepared and/or sold by vendors or hawkers especially in the streets and other similar places. SF includes a very wide quantity of products of animal and vegetable origin, grilled or fried, seasoned and served according to local traditions [ 7 ].

SF is gaining increased popularity in both under-developed and developed countries [ 8 ]. It is clear that the consumption of SF is due to different factors depending on whether we are referring to a more developed or non-developed country. In fact, for millions of low- and middle-income consumers in urban areas of developing countries, street food is a substantial component of their daily diet. For them, street foods may be the cheapest and most accessible way to have a nutritionally balanced meal outside of the home, provided that the consumer is knowledgeable and capable of selecting the right combination of foods. Moreover, in developing countries with inadequate education or skills, preparing and selling street food is a reliable source of income. Differently, in some developed countries, SF is considered an additional tourist attraction. Think about the so-called “food & wine” tourism that, for example in Italy, attracts millions of interested tourists every year to try the typical street food and live a complete and inclusive experience together with the inhabitants of the place they are visiting [ 9 , 10 ]. SF is a conscious way to show tourists and visitors part of the cultural identity of the local population, the so called “food identity” [ 11 ]. SF allows a unique experience for tourists who also want to experience a destination through traditional food consumed on the street together with the locals [ 12 ]. Street food vendors, along the road, become a meeting point between locals and visitors, between tasting and storytelling [ 9 ]. This point was addressed by some authors that described street food as a “diversified touristic attraction and offer” [ 9 ], as it allows, at the same time, tourists to explore culinary traditions of the visited country/city and the territory of origin of the products tasted. This contributes to have a unique experience of travel and knowledge of places and cultures of which the food itself contributes to maintaining a positive memory [ 13 ]. It is linked to broader concept of experience that include cultural heritage, food quality, local food products, health, and food safety [ 12 ].

However, street food can also exert negative impacts in the long term on human health and the environment, such as pollution, damage to biodiversity, etc. [ 14 ]. Additionally, SF has some problems connected to food safety, hygiene, and food quality, which can compromise the health of consumers, both during the immediate consumption and in the long term (due to cooking and preparation methods) [ 15 ]. According to FAO, local governments, international organizations, and consumer groups are becoming aware of the socioeconomic relevance of street foods, as well as the risks that come with them [ 15 ]. Food safety is the primary concern, but other issues such as sanitation (waste accumulation in the streets and clogged wastewater drains), traffic congestion in the city, including for pedestrians (occupation of sidewalks by street vendors and traffic accidents), illegal occupation of public or private space, and social issues have also been raised (child labor, unfair competition to formal trade, etc.). In many parts of the world, the possibility of serious food poisoning outbreaks linked to street foods remains a concern. A lack of understanding of the causes of food-borne illness among street food vendors is a problem. The relationship between street food (SF) and food safety (FS) is particularly interesting, due to its importance the global economy. In recent decades, the subject of FS has taken on a significance linked to the economic development of the countries to which it refers [ 16 , 17 ]. In fact, FS is generally associated with the probability of contracting diseases due to the qualitative characteristics of the food or to the lack of compliance of SF vendors with the minimum health and hygiene requirements [ 18 ]. For example, it is important for consumers to adopt some caution, such as avoiding raw foods, because the preservation methods required to keep them fresh are rarely possible on the street, or avoiding drinking running water [ 14 , 15 ]. It is also important that the surfaces on which food is processed and cooked are well cleaned and that fresh foods are stored in refrigerators. Finally, the handling of money with hands before serving or eating the food is another problem [ 3 , 7 , 14 ].

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the sanitary crisis, the consumers’ behavior in regard to food consumption and purchasing has significantly changed, particularly in urban cities in the most developed countries in the world [ 19 ]. Because of the persistence of lockdowns and the fear of the spread of contagions, consumers avoided traditional neighborhood markets of fresh foods, for the need of social distancing, and reduced the consumption of SF, preferring to buy food at supermarkets or grocery stores, often online, or requesting for home delivery [ 20 ]. In addition, it was observed that consumers stocked up essential items at home, and these behaviors largely remained even after the reopening [ 21 ]. Additionally, the SF economic sector was significantly affected, not only with regard to the lower number of local consumers but also for the absence of tourists/visitors, which is also an economic loss for SF sellers [ 22 , 23 ].

Because of the above-explained variation of food safety with geography, the term “Street Food Safety” calls for stronger contextualization and substantiation.

Despite the importance of studying issues related to the healthiness and safety of SF, notwithstanding scientific progress made in this field, bibliometric analysis of scientific works published on these topics is still lacking. Literature on SF begins around the end of nineties [ 24 ], and some studies have been conducted on SF and FS about specific topics such as hygienic practices [ 25 , 26 ], food allergens [ 27 ] and others, such as the tourism economic perspective for small enterprises [ 28 , 29 , 30 ]. Nevertheless, there is no bibliometric analysis attempting to provide an objective and comprehensive analysis of the existing interactions between these two topics. Abrahale et al., which presents a scoping review concerning SF and its socio-health aspects [ 31 ], and another Bouafou et al., [ 32 ] on food science and technology, and there are a few recent works in the literature on SF around the world and the risk perception toward FS in SF [ 33 , 34 ].

Therefore, the study of the links between the scientific topics SF and FS appears of interest for researchers that want to know how different disciplines, fields, expertise and documents/authors relate to each other while investigating those two topics, and discover any existence of a further scientific topic related to them, that is, “Street Food Safety” (SFS). This study focused on the two scientific topics of research, SF and FS, with the aim to highlight any strand of research concerned with studying the combined topic SFS or the two topics separately. Moreover, this study aims to identify which scientific fields emerge in which these two topics (SF and FS) are studied together, or in which field the specific SFS topic is studied. Specifically, the object of this paper was to discover, based on the empirical evidence, any existing objectively demonstrable interaction between the scientific topics of SF and FS, and the existence of the scientific field of research regarding “Street Food Safety”. The research questions were:

RQ1. What relation is there between street food and food safety topics in the scientific literature?

RQ2. What is the current scientific literature analyzing the “derived” composed topic “Street Food Safety”, by focusing on leading scientific contributions?

To answer these questions, we conducted a bibliometric analysis of the literature based on scientific mapping [ 35 , 36 ] in order to highlight any aspect of the bibliometric links between SF topic and FS topic and any existence of the topic “Street Food Safety” highlighted by authors who have studied this theme in any scientific sector (not necessarily the field of exact sciences). Results provided an interesting insight into current research trends and potential directions for future research.

2. Materials and Methods

Following the objectives of this study, it was considered more appropriate to combine two methodological approaches. First, the PRISMA protocol [ 35 ], a proven procedure in the field of “systematic literature reviews” and “meta-analyses” that provides transparency and replicability to the review. By the use of this procedure, it was possible to obtain a representative set of scientific documents regarding the topics of “Street Food”, “Food Safety” and “Street Food Safety”. Moreover, using scientific mapping analysis (or bibliometric mapping analysis, using “keywords” analysis, co-citation analysis and “co-occurrence analysis”, it was possible to highlight how disciplines, fields, expertise and individual documents or authors relate to each other [ 34 , 37 ]. Both techniques have been used in previous works [ 35 , 36 ]. Keyword and co-occurrence investigation provided a theoretical framework of the relations between studies on SF and FS topics, and the combined topic of “Street Food Safety” (SFS), particularly the interactions between the three topics in diverse disciplines and the most interesting studies published related to these research themes (co-citation analysis).

2.1. Bibliometric Analysis

An extensive literature search, a chronological/conceptual review of international literature, was conducted in March 2021 and in February 2022, with the aim to find out scientific documents published from 2000 to 2021 (included) discussing the relations between the topics “Street Food” and “Food Safety” [ 37 , 38 , 39 , 40 ]. This analysis was carried out on documents published from 2000 because, during the last 21 years, consumers and the scientific community have started to take more into consideration the problems linked to the risks to human health of the consumption of certain foods. In addition to that, the importance of the controls on foods quality and food safety have increased since that time, especially in developing countries, where the issue of food safety is still a very important public health issue.

The Clarivate Web of Science and the Elsevier Scopus databases were used for this study. The choice to combine these two databases allowed to reduce greatly any type of bias in the selection of data sources, as it ensured an adequate number and model of document classification according to the purpose of this study. In fact, it was thought to have a sufficient number of medium to high quality documents covering the natural and social sciences, both sectoral and interdisciplinary, within a formal or applied sciences system [ 41 ]. Moreover, the choice of the two databases appeared the most suitable to have a more heterogeneous significant sample, because of the high number of journals of medium–high quality indexed. Among all the scientific database, Google Scholar was excluded because it indexes many non-scientific papers. Finally, the PubMed database specializes in “biomedical literature”, and was therefore too sectorial, and not suitable for our investigation. Regarding the language used, there were selected scientific documents published in all languages.

The first step of the used method concerned the research and selection of the studies under investigation in the two databases.

Usually, PRISMA protocol is used in systematic literature reviews to show a series of successive stages that allowed us to select the relevant documents for the study. In this study, the PRISMA protocol was applied ( Figure 1 ) because, similarly to other bibliometric reviews [ 34 ], it appeared suitable to simplify the understanding of the study design followed, providing transparency and replicability of the review.

Inclusion and exclusion criteria using PRISMA protocol. Final number of documents observed N = 276.

The initial search was screened and refined using the Elsevier “Search within” function, applying multiple combinations with article titles, abstract and keywords. The search terms were selected in line with previous research in the field of street food [ 35 , 36 ] used Boolean strategies that are: “Street Food” AND/OR “Food Safety” OR “Street Food Safety”. Through this procedure, a first database was created (identification).

After the first step of identifying the sample for analysis, the times when pairs of articles within the sample were cited in the other scientific documents within the entire Elsevier Scopus database were counted [ 35 , 36 ].

During the last twenty-one years, there has been a strong increased interest from academics for the topics concerning street food and/or food safety; therefore, it was decided to consider for this study all documents published from 2000. The extraction rules were limited the extrapolation only to scientific articles, books/book chapters and reviews fully published in Journals between 2000 and 2021 (included), written in all languages. It is possible that after 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the interest of researchers on street food safety increased further; therefore, this study can be continued into the future.

Duplicates and documents not providing original data (e.g., opinion papers), and study protocols were excluded. So, the initial database consisted of N = 414 documents.

From the initial database of documents, it was created a second database (N = 370), after having checked the consistence of contents with the words searched as representative of the research topics (SF, FS and SFS).

The final database consisted of N = 276 documents eligible for the bibliometric analysis, which included 231 articles (83.69%), 30 book chapters (10.86%) and 15 reviews (5.43%).

A first analysis of the selected documents was performed using basic quantitative statistics in order to know the characteristics of documents included in the final database (FD), such as year of publication, authors, type of document, document citations, scientific areas, countries, etc.

Subsequently, with the frequencies obtained some multivariate statistical techniques were applied, with the aim to identify the existent structure of connection among the documents based on the terms considered representative of the observed topics (SF, FS and SFS). For this BA, the software Microsoft VOSviewer (version 1.6.16.) was used. This (Van-Eck & Waltman, 2011, 2020) software allows researchers to create two-dimensional maps for the construction and visualization of bibliometric networks [ 42 , 43 ]. It enables us to build keyword networks extracted from scientific literature, using a text mining functionality. Using this software, it was possible to carry out the scientific mapping.

2.2. Science Map Analysis

The so-called scientific mapping, or “science maps”, are spatial representations that help to visualize the relations that arise among documents, based on links between authors, bibliographic references, journals, disciplines, and specific words. This type of network analysis allows researchers to search into the content of documents through the co-occurrence of “specific words” (SW) (or key-words). This methodology is especially suitable to know the intellectual structure of a specific research field or topic of interest. According to previous studies [ 34 , 36 ], the SW used in the content of documents and those contained in titles, abstracts and keywords are essential for the identification of significant topics within a specific research topic of issue.

The visual representation of the Science Map can be obtained using any bibliometric software [ 34 , 36 ]. For this study, the VOSviewer [ 42 , 43 ] appeared the most suitable because it provides a high-quality overview of targeted research topics. However, the information underlying the visual representations provided by the software is certainly of interest. In this study, due to the graphical power of the software, and the meaning of each of the visual representations, we wanted to know the relationships between the topics of “Street Food” and “Food Safety” and any scientific interest in the topic identified as “Street food Safety”, despite the possible non-use of the specific keyword.

Thanks to VOSviewer, the importance of a SW (node) is represented by its relative position in the network. The software calculates the importance of all the SW selected and displays the largest possible number of thematic networks. The node size represents the importance of those words, based on the frequency of occurrences [ 43 ]. Links between nodes denote the number of times words appear together, and the thickness of the link means the strength of the link.

Special words’ map analysis and links’ strength analysis (co-occurrence analysis) were performed. The co-occurrence analysis allowed us to discover any relations arising among the documents selected and the entity/strength of these relations (links), which consists of distances and label size, based on the frequency of words co-occurrences. Therefore, VOSviewer provided a visual representation of the networks among the three topics investigated: street food, food safety and street food safety.

This study provides the first bibliometric analysis (BA) and classification framework of the existing literature about street food and food safety and the bibliometric links between these two scientific topics. The aim was to know if the topic “Street Food Safety” was an existing cross-sectorial topic of interest for researchers, and what were the main scientific areas in which this issue was studied as relevant topic.

The final database (FD) consisted of 276 documents published and indexed in the two databases in the period between January 2000 and December 2021.

3.1. Analysis of the Selected Manuscripts: Data Description and Classification

Through this BA, it was possible to classify the documents observed by author names, title, year of publication, document’s type, journal’s title, and number of citations by other scientific documents. Despite the fact that there are several publications documenting these topics in various parts of the world, the most frequently cited publications are, primarily, cases studied in Africa and South America. Most of them are documents focusing on specific case studies on food safety of street food, with some theoretical contribution to existing theories. This might be because the problem of food safety of street food is very relevant in those world areas.

Results shows a progressive increase, albeit non-linear, from 2000 until 2021, of publications regarding topics of street food and food safety, as shown in Figure 2 .

Evolution of the number of articles (276 documents observed) published per year.

It can be noticed that the number of scientific documents published increased significantly in 2014 (11.59% of the total 276 documents observed). Specifically, most of the published documents on the studied topics (204 documents, equal to 73.91% of total documents observed) were published between 2014 and 2022, with the exception of 2015, where there were only 12 articles, but that year was the only one not in line with the trend of the last 8 years.

Figure 3 shows the number of scientific documents on the topics SF and FS published from 2000 to 2021, by focused country.

Frequency of the scientific papers about street food and food safety by focused country.

It can be seen that India, with 35 documents on SF and/or FS (12.68% of the 276 documents), was the country with the highest number of interested authors; following India were Brazil, USA and Ghana, with more than 20 documents, South Africa with 20 documents (7.2% of total 276 documents), and then Indonesia (16 documents, 5.8%), Nigeria (4.3%), UK (4.3%) and Bangladesh (3.6%). This result highlights that generally, in the occidental countries and specifically in the EU, the topic of food safety for street food is not considered an issue, possibly thanks to specific strict regulations to preserve food quality and to maintain a high level of sanitary standards. Moreover, street food is much more frequently sold and consumed as a regular meal in developing countries than in those more developed [ 25 , 29 , 44 ].

Figure 4 shows a high heterogeneity of documents and the diversity of the research fields where the topics SF and/or FS were studied (12 research field in total), according to the number of documents published in the selected databases.

Number of published documents by research field.

The five research fields with more documents were: agricultural and biological sciences (included agricultural economics) with 137 documents—49.63% of the total (276); medicine (81 documents) 29.34% of the total; social sciences (48 document on 276) 17.39% of the total database; biochemistry, genetics and molecular biology 16.3% (45 documents) and immunology and microbiology 36 documents—13%. Following these were environmental science, engineering, business management and accounting, nursing, multidisciplinary, pharmacology and economics, econometrics and finance. In this scenario, it is interesting to observe that social sciences is a field where SF and FS were studied relatively frequently (almost 20% of the total documents observed), and also in combination.

Table 1 shows the top 20 most cited documents in the SD. Specifically, the manuscript of Mensah et al. (2002) [ 44 ] has the highest number of citations, 202 citations, among all the publications observed in the FD on an article analyzing safety and healthiness of street food in a city of Ghana. It is followed by a review of Rane (2011) [ 45 ], with a citation frequency of 103, that analyzes the problems of risks related to street food. By observing all the articles in this Table, it is possible to notice that the most recurring themes are the relationship between street food and the hygiene of the place where it is sold and consumed, and the fact that it has become an important public health issue in the developing continents. Other aspects investigated by the authors are related to the socio-economic role of the street food vendors. Most of these are documents published on very sectorial journals concerning food safety, knowledge and risk, etc. such as the journal “Food control”, which deals with these issues.

Rank of first 20 most cited articles.

Note: Our elaboration on data from Elsevier Scopus and Web of Science Database, 2022.

3.2. VOSviewer Results: Science Maps

All the SW contained in the titles, abstracts and keywords of the 276 selected documents were selected, and they consisted of 797 words to be analyzed (census) [ 42 , 43 ]. Previously, the database was manually cleaned of duplicates, plural words, and other words considered not relevant for this study (e.g., “analysis”, “theory”, “study”, “review”, etc.). At the end, the words database consisted of 110 words. The 110 selected words were analyzed using the VOSviewer software, with the final result a science map showing the relationships between the various SWs, and among them, plus their association through the thematic clusters highlighted ( Figure 5 ).

VOSviewer keywords analysis and co-occurrences in the selected documents.

In the map, it was possible to see clearly the bibliometric links between the two topics observed (SF and FS) and all the other correlated SW in the selected documents. As shown in Figure 5 , following the “VOSviewer keywords analysis” each node is a word, the larger the node, the higher the frequency of occurrence of the word identifying it. The lines between two nodes (links) and their thickness indicates the co-occurrence of two words in the same document. Specifically, links between/among nodes indicates that two or more words appear in the same document, and the thicker the line, the higher the frequency of word co-occurrence [ 42 , 43 ]. Moreover, the thickness of the link indicates the strength of the link based on co-occurrences. The network connections show the words that appear together more frequently in the analyzed documents. Thus, it is possible to identify clearly the most prevalent/important research topics discussed in the research/study documents, according to their authors.

The “VOSviewer keywords analysis” [ 42 , 43 ] highlighted two big clusters based on the 110 words analyzed. These words are displayed in the science map with 306 links that connect them to each other, highlighting the multidisciplinary approach to issues related to SF and FS.

The nodes’ size indicates the weight of the SW, i.e., its occurrences. Food safety is the biggest node, followed by Street Food. The word “Food Safety” appears in almost half of the documents in the selected database; consequently, this node is the biggest one, having the highest number of co-occurrences with the other linked words, and it clusters the largest number of correlated topics.

The second biggest cluster is that of the topic “Street Food”, which is obvious considering that these two words were the ones selected as “key-selection words” in the first phase of sampling in the Elsevier Scopus database. However, the interesting thing is the strength of the link between these two topics, which shows that there is high interest of research for the two combined topics of SF and FS. Furthermore, the nodes and the links discovered show what are the other principal topics studied in combination with SF and FS, this highlights the scientific sectors and issues wherein these two topics are studied together.

Very few documents (1.5% of the total documents observed) contained the word “Street Food Safety” in their titles, abstracts and keywords, regarding microbial safety, social determinants of health, public health intervention and food safety education in elementary school students. Due to the low frequency with which this word has been detected, it does not appear in the visual representation provided by the software.

It can be observed that the strongest connections of FS are with topics related to human health issues, such as “food”, “hygiene”, “nutrition”, “hazard” and “contamination”. Moreover, the most important connections with SF are other topics related to consumers and their awareness of SF hazards and SF characteristics, e.g., topics such as: “consumers”, “knowledge”, “street vendors”, “hazard”, “hygiene practices”, “women” and “nutrition”.

Table 2 shows the most relevant words found in the analysed documents based on occurrences and links’ strength.

Rank of the 15 most frequent keywords, occurrences and links’ strength.

Note: Our elaboration of data extracted from selected documents.

From the total of 276 selected articles and review documents, the keyword “Food Safety” was found in 79 documents, reflecting a percentage of 28.6% of the total number of documents, with the highest strength of the links (LS 180) that correlate it with other topics. It is not surprising that this topic is followed by “Street Food” with a frequency of 48, which is 17.2% of the 279 selected articles and a link strength (LS) of 104. Other frequent SW are “hygiene” (8.3%) and “vendors” (4.3%). “Consumers”, “Food hygiene” and “Es. Coli” (2.9%) are moderately frequent, although not as relevant as the first ones. These results show that the other SW do not have their own capability to be a multidisciplinary topic, because their combination with any of the other word observed is modest. On the other hand, these findings show the relevance of combination among SF and FS topics and other topics such as “consumers”, “food hygiene”, “knowledge”, “nutrition and diseases” and the way in which the issue of food safety of SF is studied.

Figure 6 displays the clusters’ density. This Figure shows the same bibliographic findings of Figure 5 , but without networks. In this Figure, the intensity/density of the color reveals the weight of each cluster measured by the number of items belonging to that cluster in the neighborhood of the point [ 36 , 37 ].

Density visualization performed by the VOSviewer program.

The density of Cluster 1, with 58 words (data not shown) (63%), addresses “Food Safety” issues. Cluster 2 (density of 33 words) addresses street food issues, with a weaker cooperation strength than that of Cluster 1. The similar colors and their intensity show cooperation strength of the words, which identifies the topics studied in the same document.

Nevertheless, the interesting finding that emerges from this result is that the highest density is located in the proximity of the word FS and SF. Therefore, it is possible to demonstrate that a line of research, or a field, that studies issues and themes regarding “ Street Food Safety ” exists, despite the fact that this “key”-word is used very rarely in the selected documents.

4. Discussion

Through this pilot research, using a bibliometric analysis of scientific documents on the topics “Street Food” and “Food Safety”, it was attempted to discover the scientific interactions and connections between the two topics.

The first finding that emerges from the results is that the interest to pursue research related to food safety within street food sector has significantly increased during the last 21 years; in fact, between 2000 and 2021, the number of articles on street food, food safety and their connection increased progressively ( Figure 2 ). The aim of the studies observed was to study how to increase food safety and hygiene during preparation and consumption of street food and also the consumers’/vendors’ knowledge about this issue [ 64 , 65 , 66 , 67 , 68 , 69 ]. Although the SFS covers a wide range of subject categories, a large proportion of the publications were related to street food and food safety separately. Specifically, it is possible to note that in the Cluster 1, according to the topics found [ 51 , 70 , 71 ], groups all the documents where the issue of food safety is discussed, and Cluster 2 groups documents about street food. Interactions between the street food topic and food safety, and other relevant research topics, show that relations are mainly related to economic topics [ 72 , 73 , 74 , 75 ].

The analysis of the 279 selected documents highlights the increasing interest of researchers for issues of SF for human health, and thus the importance of FS for global and local policies [ 2 , 74 , 75 ]. Almost all public health challenges are discussed with regard to specific geographic areas, so there is an increase in the number of journals in these fields, journals such as Foods , Food Control , International Journal of Food Microbiology , etc.

The interactions between SF and FS can be also found by observing the other research sectors linked to them, such as “food allergies”, “diseases and hygiene”, “nutrition” and “food contamination” issues [ 1 , 55 , 76 , 77 ]. Topics related to nutrition, hygiene practices, food safety knowledge, hazard, contamination, microbiological quality, risk assessment, and others were the most discussed in the identified articles, showing some common issues of great concern. Much research has been conducted in developing countries [ 2 , 76 , 77 ].

Moreover, street food and food safety issues are closely related to the food system topics. In fact, most of the documents were included in the research area “Agricultural and Biological science” in which there are journals dealing with issues of “Agricultural Economics”. SFS research involves about 84% of all subject categories, meaning that there are numerous perspectives of research and scientific studies on the specific topic of SFS. The study found that SFS topics are studied mainly with regard to developing countries, such as India, Brazil and Ghana, which have undeveloped economies and little investment in scientific research. Nevertheless, this topic is also covered with regard to the USA. In fact, SFS cannot disregard based on political, socio-economic and environmental regional characteristics; nevertheless, the current bias in geographical distribution of SFS research seems acceptable and thus it allows the generalization of findings.

It is believed that further research targeting developed countries is needed [ 66 , 78 , 79 , 80 , 81 ], and also the analysis of documents written in different languages other than English and indexed in other scientific databases, because they address these themes and topics from different point of view and with a more systemic approach.

This pilot study, with BA [ 81 ], contributes to the actual research showing a new latent field of research on “Street Food Safety”, because of the revealed closed links between the two topics, particularly in the research areas of medicine, agricultural economics, biological sciences, and social sciences. Therefore, this opens up a new potential research field in the literature. This novelty of findings may be of interest for other authors interested in studying the Street Food Safety issues from a broader interdisciplinary perspective, and not necessarily linked only to food hygiene or public health issues. In fact, results clearly show that there is an existing research interest on the SFS topic that includes other topics of cross-sectoral interest, studied primarily by academics of social sciences (agricultural economics, agricultural politics, economics, etc.), e.g., food quality topics, quality certifications, of the traceability and retraceability of a food product, block-chain, etc.

Limitations and Future Lines of Research

The aim of this study was to contribute to the knowledge of the specific broad interest research sector of Street Food Safety . This pilot study, using BA [ 80 , 81 ], opens the door for future analysis by combining other databases of research documents that can confirm or contrast our results. However, the results of this study have some limitations that need to be addressed in future studies, and do not offer a unique view of reality. In particular, the most important is that, although we were able to obtain objective results on the topic of SF and FS and with regard to the discovered latent topic of Street Food Safety, some reasons behind these results are still not explained. Therefore, a more detailed analysis of the studies about the topic of Street Food Safety in developed countries appears useful in adjusting the geographic distribution of research documents analyzed. Therefore, to address this limitation, which is typical of BA [ 80 , 81 ], future research could be carried out with the using statistical methods suitable for explorative studies in social sciences. Additionally, these results could be integrated with a systematic literature review. However, the complexity of the phenomenon and its importance demonstrates that more research need to be conducted on the extensive topic of Street Food Safety.

5. Conclusions

This study is the first bibliometric analysis and classification framework to review systematically the status of the existing literature on the topic of “Street Food Safety” highlighting the bibliometric links between street food topic and food safety topic. The aim was to know if the topic “Street Food Safety” was an existing cross sectorial topic of interest for researchers, and what were the main scientific areas in which this issue was studied as relevant topic. A quantification of the increase in SFS-related interdisciplinary topics was made in order to highlight the importance that the scientific topic of SFS in acquiring progressively during the last 21 years (from 2000 to 2021).

Through the co-occurrence analysis of research countries and journals, and to citation analysis [ 35 , 36 , 81 ] we found that most research is performed in developing countries and that these countries have similar problems related to food safety of street food and health of regular consumers of street food. Furthermore, keywords analysis, co-occurrence analysis and cluster analysis, revealed the current research focus and trends [ 36 ]. Researchers are focused on one main aspect: food security related to street food preparation and consumption in the daily diet of consumers. This finding highlights that there is a developing field of research on the topic “Street Food Safety” and on all the other topics related to it. Specifically, the research sectors where authors investigate on this topic are those of the social sciences where topics are studied using an integrated and systemic view. Therefore, more research should be carried out in the future investigating documents that focus on developed countries also using other database to complete the analysis.

Abbreviations

The following abbreviations are used in this manuscript:

Author Contributions

Conceptualization, C.B. and M.I.; methodology, C.B. and M.I.; software, C.B.; validation, C.B. and M.I.; formal analysis, S.B., C.B. and M.I.; investigation, C.B.; resources, S.B. and M.I.; data curation, C.B. and M.I.; project administration, C.B. and M.I.; writing—original draft preparation, C.B. and M.I.; writing—review and editing, S.B., C.B. and M.I.; visualization, S.B. and M.I.; supervision, C.B. and M.I.; funding acquisition, S.B., C.B. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

This research was partially funded by the research fund “FFR 2021 Prof. Simona Bacarella” And partially funded by the research project “Sostenibilità economica, ambientale e sociale del sistema agroalimentare del mediterraneo”, Principal investigator Prof. Claudio Bellia funded by PIAno di inCEntivi per la Ricerca di Ateneo (PIACERI) UNICT 2020/22 line 2, UPB: 5A722192154, University of Catania.

Institutional Review Board Statement

Informed consent statement, data availability statement, conflicts of interest.

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

• Street Critic
• Lunch Inspection
• Perry’s Reviews
• Recent Reviews
• Our Book Reviews
• Our Product Reviews
• Food Trucks
• Food Stands
• Specialty Carts
• Food Trailers
• Vendor Interviews
• Food Festivals, Events & Conventions
• Los Angeles
• Grilled Cheese
• Hot Dog/Sausage/Wurst
• Falafel/Shawarma
• Greek/Gyros
• Cheese Steaks
• Vegan/Vegetarian
• Eastern European
• German/Austrian
• Mediterranean
• Middle Eastern
• Food trends
• Food Business
• Food Marketing
• Our Writers
• Hire a Food Truck!
• Bloggers Wanted

• Street Food

Essay: History of Street Food

Street food is a special kind of food sold on the streets of almost every city in the world.

When you buy street foods, you are able to consume them at once, even while standing. It is the main difference between street foods and restaurant meals. It is possible to say that this ready-to-eat food is a kind of fast food though its price is lower.

Of course, one can argue about its safety and impact on our health. This food belongs to finger food; therefore, there are cases of poisoning and various diseases transmitted by dirty hands, water and products.

A vendor does not have to rent a building and open a restaurant. He is able to sell his cheap food from portable vehicles, for example, a food booth or a food cart. Moreover, a hawker can ride around the city and sell his food in different places every day.

Street food is very popular all over the world and about two billion people consume it every day. We treat street food as a common and regular phenomenon, however, very few people have ever thought about its origin and history. I will try to observe this issue in detail.

We can definitely say that street food existed in ancient Greece. The most popular meal was fried fish. Ancient Rome had its street food vendors too. I should admit that street foods were consumed by poor citizens. Very few people had an oven or a hearth in their houses. Consequently, they could not cook at home and had to purchase cheap food in the street. The most common meal of that time was soup with bread. When we speak about ancient China, we will say that it was one of the first countries, which had catering. Of course, the poor bought and consumed this food in the street. The rich could afford a servant who bought street food and carried it to their homes.

The standards of street food were not regulated until the first part of the 15th century. The first country, which legalized street food and established its standards, was Turkey. The most popular street meals of Turkey and other Eastern countries were rice, lamb kebab, fried chicken, etc. As you see, meat occupied the leading position in their cuisine.

It is interesting that street food is an international phenomenon. Street vendors sold their food in North and South America. Consequently, street food existed before the colonization of these continents. For example, Aztecs had a developed system of street food. Local vendors sold different kinds of meals. One could buy tamales, which consisted of a great number of ingredients. An average tamale could consist of poultry, maize, frogs, fruit, fish, eggs, etc. When Europeans colonized America, they introduced new ingredients and meals. However, local people continued consuming their traditional street food. It is interesting that street food was banned in New York in the first part of the 18th century. In other parts of the country, people could buy oysters, fruit, nuts, biscuits, cakes, etc. Moreover, street vendors offered coffee and different types of sweets.

Well-known French fries were invented in Paris in the 19th century. At first, French fries were a kind of French street food. Very soon, this meal became popular all over the world. British meals of that time consisted primarily of peas. A famous national Japanese ramen was a common street food in China. However, it became a national dish when Chinese immigrants introduced it in Japan.

Globalization has influenced street food seriously nowadays. Due to the cultural exchange, it is possible to find street foods of all types in every big city in the world. You can find traditional Turkish meal in New York and a common Chinese dish in Dublin. Doubtless, street food has ruined all borders and you are able to satisfy your hunger buying a kebab or German currywurst at a local street vendor.

This essay is written by one of the experts from EffectivePapers.com – a certified paper writing service.

Share this:

• Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
• Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)

RELATED ARTICLES MORE FROM AUTHOR

8 tips for enjoying new york’s street food with optimal digestive health, top chefs in the world who started with street food, unveiling the culinary journey: the evolution of new york city’s street food scene, editor picks, 8 benefits of celebrating with gluten-free birthday cakes, how to shop for the right online beef orders, top neighbourhoods in nyc for foodie renters, popular posts, falafel platter from la baguette cafe truck, 5 reasons you should be cooking with the correct utensils, at the intersection of cool & cooler, popular category.

• Food Trucks 1113
• Street Food 922
• Mobile Munchies 820
• Today's Lunch 400
• Food Carts 380
• NYSF First Look 308
• Street Eats 308
• Food Festivals, Events & Conventions 237
• Business, Legal & Police Issues 221
• Privacy Policy

Privacy Overview

Bgict ii – choinkwich’s revenge.

Interested in blogging for timesofindia.com? We will be happy to have you on board as a blogger, if you have the knack for writing. Just drop in a mail at [email protected] with a brief bio and we will get in touch with you.

Please note:

• TOI will have complete discretion to select bloggers
• TOI's decision in this regard will be final
• There's no remuneration for blogging
• TOI reserves the right to edit all blogs

• Times Evoke
• Entertainment
• Spirituality
• Environment
• Foreign Media

Follow us on

Why india’s street food vendors are the essence of the country’s food industry.

Rohan Keni is an Indian-Portuguese writer based in the United Arab Emirates. He writes argumentative essays involving contemporary issues. When he is not writing, he plays ten nis, follows live sports, listens to music or walks his dog. LESS ... MORE

I was watching a documentary series on street food. The series had various episodes titled after cities in Asia, such as Bangkok, New Delhi, Seoul, etc. The episode uncovering New Delhi’s street food devotees was my favorite choice, considering my Indian roots. It spoke about the backgrounds of the different street vendors serving various street dishes. I was taken on a culinary journey across different dishes such as the Nihari stew, the Seekh Kebabs, Chaat, and Chole Batura. Consequently, the show celebrated the success and continuity of the vendors’ lives, businesses, and services to Delhi’s people. Ultimately, the documentary thoughtfully represented the enthusiasm and success of Indian street food businesses. Essentially, it is important to understand that the Indian street food business is an essence of flavorsome when it comes to shaping the Indian food market.

According to cultural Historian Rana Safvi, the concept surrounding street food consists of ancient imported roots from the Tomars, the Rajputs, the British, and the Mughal empire. Hence, Safvi says that when people indulge in infamous street dishes such as the Nihari, or the Seekh Kebab, they are also tasting history in the present day. Furthermore, Safvi also states that the street food business serves all kinds of people – from the working-class category to students – to the rich folk – to any common man. Consequently, according to the Program Head of the National Association of Street Vendors, Sangeeta Singh, “many people don’t seem to have kitchens, and are totally dependent on street food for their meals; so if someone has to taste real food, authentic food, it has to be street food.”

Over the years, the street food scene in India has grown with popularity. According to a food website, the street food industry has grown with prominence because of its high demand in the food market. Another food website states that its market share is also expanding because of its emphasis on freshness and taste in food items. Consequently, the website also states that the industry’s business models have also flourished because of the business’s low investment requirement and high cost-effectiveness. Hence, street vendors have strived and are striving to prepare quality food which will entice demanding taste buds at a lower cost.

However, some people in India also avoid street food stalls in concern of hygiene standards followed by vendors. They feel fearful of sanitation, quality, and surroundings. However, the report states that street food stalls usually serve a preponderance of the population in a city. Moreover, street food vendors across India suffer from displacement on a daily basis. They can also suffer from legal sanctions and have depleted constitutional recognition. Additionally, according to Anne Dahmen, a German research scholar and coordinator for the sustainable Hyderabad Project (SHP), eviction possibilities are high for street vendors because of a lack of awareness about the standard protocols and requirements in following the Food Safety and Standards Act 2006. However, Anne Dahmen also states that the perception and overall situation of street food surrounding uncertainty can be improved by the government by managing the sector better, i.e., by regulating the process to be more participatory.

This industry has grown and preserved economies in the country. According to a media report, if street food stalls fold permanently, then the high cost to be beared by a customer and effort to find food which has similar value would be difficult. Furthermore, according to Anne Dahmen, if proper training based on legalities, hygiene, and preparation is administered by different authorities through various schemes to various street vendors across India, then the street food industry can be pillars of sustenance for societies. For instance, the Hindu also reports that under a training program carried out by the SHP and Dr. Reddy’s foundation, which trained several street vendors, M. Vijay Kumar – one of the training program’s trainees saw his sales increase from Rs. 800 to Rs. 1000 a day after executing new methods.

Conclusively, though some people in India avoid street food because of hygiene purposes, it’s role in sustaining and shaping the Indian food economy remains unparalleled. Additionally, though some of the street vendors are at risk of eviction on a daily basis, they are also the lifeblood of freshness and taste in taste buds across different cities in India. Consequently, with the right schemes of training programs provided by the government to street vendors, there can be a possibility for crucial advancement in institutional awareness concerning culinary legalities, acts, and hygiene practices. Ultimately, it is essential to understand that the Indian food economy is shaped by the people who serve food on the streets of cities, and with changes in perceptions of some citizens and recognition given by the government towards these people, it can become more recognizable.

Top Comment

{{{short}}} {{#more}} {{{long}}} ... Read More {{/more}}

Start a Conversation

Views expressed above are the author's own.

END OF ARTICLE

It’s not working: Are netas hearing young talk about jobs crisis?

It’s Our Carma: That the Pune teen who killed two isn’t already being tried as adult tells a lot about justice system

How to make elections civil again

‘Quantum Physics and Vedas illuminate reality’

The right call

Courting the cops, always: SC order in the NewsClick case shows trial court judges are authorising detentions casually

‘Adivasi jhukega nahi. It’s not in our DNA…Corruption isn’t peculiar to Jharkhand. What matters is how action is taken’

Only wave is the heatwave

Murder of trees: Compensatory plantations cannot replace a forest

Poll do pyaaza: Onion politics shows how all parties try to balance consumer & farmer interests, and get it wrong

Blogs by Rohan Keni

• Do you think straight A’s always mean a good future? Think again
• Being Homosexual or Bisexual is natural. It’s time for society to accept natural
• OCD – Mental health issues vs A conservative society

TOI Edit Page,Voices

Bachi Karkaria

Erratica,TOI Edit Page,Tracking Indian Communities

Jug Suraiya

Juggle-Bandhi,TOI Edit Page

Speaking Tree

TOI Edit Page

TOP EDITORIALS

• Buddha and the law of attraction
• Mumbai meltdown: Unpacking the city’s intense heatwave
• A generative AI learning pathway

• Agriculture
• Hospitality
• Privacy Policy
• User Agreeement
• Submission Guidelines
• Link Policy
• Inquirer.net

latest posts

Miko Calo leaves Metronome after 5-year run

‘Positive’ business expansion is Bryan Loo’s cup of tea

Some like it hot and Ginza Gyu knows that all too well

In Iloilo City, entrepreneurs and chefs all share a commitment to creative gastronomy

• February 2024
• January 2024
• December 2023
• November 2023
• October 2023
• September 2023
• August 2023
• February 2023
• January 2023
• December 2022
• November 2022
• October 2022
• September 2022
• August 2022
• February 2022
• January 2022
• December 2021
• November 2021
• October 2021
• September 2021
• August 2021
• February 2021
• January 2021
• December 2020
• November 2020
• October 2020
• September 2020
• August 2020
• February 2020
• January 2020
• December 2019
• November 2019
• October 2019
• September 2019
• August 2019
• February 2019
• January 2019
• December 2018
• November 2018
• October 2018
• September 2018
• August 2018
• December 2017
• August 2017
• February 2017
• December 2016
• October 2016
• August 2016

Street food represents the stories of struggle, survival, and a nation’s sensibilities

Polarizing to outsiders, street food has always filled the city’s locals from all walks of life. yet how has this culture changed.

Street food in the Philippines is a way of life and, at times, a point of contention. Despite strides Filipino food has been making overseas, particularly in the United States , our local food continues to invite foreigners to provide strongly worded opinions about the cuisine, with a female writer once calling Filipino food “the worst in Asia.” One travel blogger, in particular, singled out our street food, who said she’d “rather starve” than eat it again.

While these incendiary reactions stoked online ire, allow me to pose a thought. Part of the reason why our street food does not fare well with tourists is the fact that these humble dishes are intrinsically local, serving local needs: societal nuances and complications included.

Revisiting Manila’s street food, from Doreen Gamboa-Fernandez’s ‘Tikim’

Although other cities such as Bangkok may have mastered the art of making their street-peddled dishes palatable to foreign visitors, the bowls and skewers that characterize Manila’s street food are borne out of urban grit and a need for survival. As Doreen Gamboa Fernandez writes in her essay on street food, Balut to Barbecue , “Street food in the Philippines is not only a convenience for those without time to cook, or an economic phenomenon that flourishes during hard times. It is a lifestyle.”

Although other cities such as Bangkok may have mastered the art of making their street-peddled dishes palatable to foreign visitors, the bowls and skewers that characterize Manila’s version are borne out of urban grit and a need for survival.

Largely catering to the working class, street carts and stalls are set up in jeepney and bus terminals, outskirts of residential neighborhoods, as well as on the sites of schools, workplaces, marketplaces, or even churches—typically away from the usual tourist stomping grounds. Street food is meant to be extremely affordable and convenient for the mobile commuter. Hence, day-old chicks, wiry intestines skewered on sticks, pig ears, and all things brown and charred may not make for the most appetizing delicacies for outsiders making their foray into the cuisine and expecting to be wowed. 

Existing between time and space

Published in the ’90s, Fernandez’s view on street food in her essay is still largely reflective of the magnitude with which street food has grown today. Save for some minute details that date the material (the UP Shopping Center, which was lost to a fire in 2018, stands no more), the late food historian’s observations on street food as a culture remain: folded tables in residential neighborhoods; the array of eateries in bus terminals; cheap eats being sold at offices, schools, and construction sites; and “walking” street food such as peanuts or taho being sold by mobile vendors carrying baskets, often cheap morsels that take little to no time to assemble.

Compare this to the quintessential Filipino eating habits, usually bound by proper meals depending on the time of day. These mealtimes are typically taken sitting down at a dining table at home: agahan for umaga (morning); tanghalian for tanghali (noontime); hapunan for hapon (afternoon/evening). “Kumain nang tatlong beses sa isang araw” (Eat three times a day) is a baseline one hopes to achieve while straddling the poverty line, indicating that one has at least been fed well.

Being fast, cheap, and mobile can mean that street food serves an individual eater’s needs, who are usually relegated to one side as they quickly scarf down their snacks without a word.

Meanwhile, sitting squarely within that gray area of time and space exists street food. With its stalls taking up no more than a few square meters, one can be seated at a makeshift bench and monobloc table beside a cart on a sidewalk or simply stand up even as orders have arrived. 

Being fast, cheap, and mobile can mean that street food serves an individual eater’s needs, who are usually relegated to one side as they quickly scarf down their snacks without a word.  Yet while its very concept is used to bridge hungers ( “ pangtawid gutom” as Fernandez calls it), one can also use it to substitute a proper meal altogether.

Fernandez writes, “The snacks on the street fill this function, and perhaps this is why they are not considered ‘serious’ meals and are given ‘unserious’ meals like ‘Adidas,’ ‘helmet,’ and ‘Walkman.’”

Then there is the pack-up-and-go nature of its peddlers’ carts and stalls as well as the transient state of its eaters. As many vendors are not confined to a single location, whether of their own accord or of the locale’s changing permits and regulations, so are its patrons. This type of food becomes a go-to for workers on the clock, students stalling time before heading home, or passengers grabbing a quick bite before the bus leaves. It may be a stopover, but hardly the final destination—that is to say, a proper “mealtime” at home that allows individuals to reconnect with their family members.

Redefining the concept of ‘street’ in street food

Street food in the Philippines is still largely a small, fast, and cash-based operation for its vendors. Many of these establishments are family-run, earning just enough to afford a day’s meals for the family, enough cash profit for the next day’s capital, and a little extra.

Then, the pandemic occurred. While at its most fundamental definition, street food refers to food found on the street, recent times show that the lines between street and non-street food continue to blur.

Even in its digital reinvention, street food remained unbound by time, space, and concept.

As lockdowns introduced massive disruptions, this introduced an inadvertent cultural shift in how street food exists in the metro. With tightened mobility and border issues, street food was no longer relegated to the physical confines of being on the street or out of the open. The transient nature of street food in its most literal sense had been challenged, with remote work and school being the norm, with no jeepneys or other modes of public transport plying the roads.

Instead, pandemic businesses popped up left and right, beating the cabin fever of being confined at home while simultaneously acknowledging people’s needs for comfort meals at a time of uncertainty. Establishments of all sizes headily adapted online, as avenues such as Facebook Marketplace and online delivery platforms such as GrabFood and Foodpanda thrived.

Yet even in a peculiar time, street food remained fast, cheap, and mobile. Social media is free and easy to use, allowing carinderia owners and ihaw stall operators to hop on and pivot. Even in its digital reinvention, street food remained unbound by time, space, and concept: people ordered arroz caldo, isaw, pares, pork barbecue, and other cheap and filling eats, once consumed on the side of the streets, but now delivered by mobile riders plying them instead at virtually any time of the day.

With restrictions largely loosening since then, many of these street food businesses have returned to their physical setups. Meanwhile, those who have chosen to adapt to the new times maintained its online presence—diversifying the ways it could cater to a changed diner profile and its social media accounts.

And as cities such as Metro Manila continue to redefine the bounds of time and space, shaped by ever-changing factors, street food will be there to fill the bellies of its evolving locale.

If communal home dining is the beating heart of Filipino cuisine , then street food is its artery. Needing no explanation or justification with outsiders of the culture, it permeates the city’s nooks and crannies, fueling the city’s hustlers and showcases a slice of daily life: from the rushing office worker in Makati lining up for a plate of sisig before lunch break ends, to the Bicolano transplant selling their family’s laing recipe along a roadside carinderia. 

These represent the stories of struggle, survival, and a nation’s sensibilities, all taking place within the crevices of the metro with which its locals inhabit and live out their daily existence. And as cities such as Metro Manila continue to redefine the bounds of time and space, shaped by ever-changing factors, street food will be there to fill the bellies of its evolving locale.

Wherever it maybe, Helm is still Josh Boutwood’s happy place

Millennial and gen z travelers have bigger budgets but seek deals, says travel booking app, leave a reply cancel reply.

The biggest challenges in hospitality now: sustainability and tech

The basics of starting a restaurant, according to key restaurateurs

How can hotels make operations more sustainable?

Stay connected.

Academia.edu no longer supports Internet Explorer.

To browse Academia.edu and the wider internet faster and more securely, please take a few seconds to  upgrade your browser .

Enter the email address you signed up with and we'll email you a reset link.

• We're Hiring!
• Help Center

Filipino Street Foods: A Part of Philippine Culture and History

Related Papers

Cyrah San Juan

Lowege Bañas

Purpose: The main objective of this research is to science concepts in local dishes and delicacies in 34 barangays in the Municipality of Ajuy, Iloilo, Philippines. Furthermore, to value its contribution to LGU and academe. Methods: This qualitative research specifically used ethnoscience through interviews, focus group discussion (FGD), and observation. But because of the pandemic, automated micro-targeting using Facebook (FB) was also used. All the responses of the informants were coded, analyzed, triangulated, and themed. Findings/application: Out of 34 barangays in the Municipality of Ajuy, 6 have local dishes, and 11 for local delicacies were recorded. However, most of these foods were not local from Ajuy but were adapted from neighboring places and islands. All the identified food, “barikutsa” (sugar and coconut milk candy) for delicacy, and “Patotin filled with Valenciana” for dish stood out the most due to no preservatives and processed ingredients. The local dishes and deli...

Asia Pacific Journal of Education, Arts and Sciences

Asia Pacific Journal of Education Perspective

Food handling should always follow proper procedure and should maintain orderliness and cleanliness. This study aimed to determine the food sanitation practices of street food vendors in Batangas City. Descriptive type of research was utilized in the study. Results showed that majority of the street food vendors sell isaw because people of the community most likely prefer isaw as their merienda. The street food vendors are practicing a clean working area as part of their sanitation practices. The customers perceived that barely checking of the food if it is free from larva is being practiced by the street vendors.

Jhomalyn Martelino

Kikiam is a sausage-like Chinese dish that Philippines adopted and considered as one of its popular street foods. The version of kikiam bought along the streets highly contains flour which diminished the authentic flavor of Chinese kikiam. Although the taste and smell are identical to the existing kikiam in the market, the healthier version is taken for granted. This study aims to develop a new variety of kikiam utilizing the discarded peels of potatoes, carrots, chayote, and malunggay leaves as main ingredients. Dehydration process was applied to dry the vegetable peels, and then finely milled and sifted to make powdered veggie peels mixed on the remaining ingredients. The product was subjected to a pre-cook process of steaming for 30 minutes. Air drying was applied to cool down the product before weighing and packing. Using polyethylene plastic film bag, eighty grams of Veggie Peel Kikiam containing five pieces per pack was vacuum sealed to secure and ensure quality and safety of ...

Vienne Belino

ABSTRACT The Study entitled Microbial contamination of street foods along a selected university in Manila is a Descriptive research that probed on the microbial content of the street food that are prepared and sold within the school’s vicinity. The objective of the study was to determine the presence of microorganisms among the popular street food that are usually consumed by the locals. The researchers gathered four varying types of street food, namely Isaw, Kwek-kwek, Kikiam, and Fish ball from two different stalls along Malvar street and Pedro Gil street. The samples were taken to the laboratory and tested with the use of agar plate culturing, specifically using incubator in order to allow microorganisms to form their own colonies. After 24 hours of cultivation, there was a gradual growth of microorganisms on the agar plate with different microorganisms along their own colony. Microorganisms such as Escherichia Coli and Staphylococcus Aureus manifested in all of the agar samples. After the process of identification through Microscopy and Morphology, it was concluded that all the samples bought from both Malvar street and Pedro Gil street contains both the stated kinds of bacteria with Isaw being the most prevalent to microbial growth. Escherichia coli is believed to have been manifested through poor environmental conditions of where the street food stall is situated while, Staphylococcus Aureus is inferred to have developed through food-handling preparations.

Gastronomica

Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett

Jilyn Valdez

A study was conducted to determine the profitability of selected street food vendors in Silang, Cavite. Specifically, it aimed to describe the demographic profile of street food vendors and to determine the retail strategy, profitability ratios and their relationship. Descriptive research was used to conduct this study. There were 150 participants included in the study. Data were collected using survey-interview questionnaires. The data were analyzed using frequency counts, percentages, mean and chi-square test. Result of the study revealed that retail strategy of the participants was more on repeated sales; product uniqueness; with excellent product appearance; competitor’s analysis; ambulant type of vending; give importance on location; cost-based pricing strategy; with the same price assessment; always give customer discounts; promote products through word of mouth; sell product seven days a week; did storage practices in their home while others do not; hygiene was considered important; and excellently value their customers.

Chester Cabalza

Journal of Ethnic Foods

Tisha Isabelle De Vergara

The practice of making and eating fertilized duck eggs is a widely known practice in Asia. In the Philippines, “balut” is a popularly known Filipino delicacy which is made by incubating duck eggs for about 18 days. However, criticisms against its authenticity and the unstable demand for balut in the market pose challenges to the development of the Philippine balut industry. Consequently, this research aims to trace the history of balut production and consumption in the Philippines by specifically looking into the following. First, it explores the factors that contribute to the discovery and patronage of balut. Second, it identifies the localities that popularized the balut industry. Third, this includes the key industries that started the large scale production of balut. Fourth, it discusses the local ways of balut-making practices in the country. Lastly, it also provides an account of the ways of balut consumption. Through content analysis of secondary data, this research argues th...

Louise Anne

RELATED PAPERS

Michael Gabriel Raphael Goo

Corazon Gatchalian , Shirley Guevarra

judy ann ladaran

Gazel Manuel

Celyrah B Castillo

Asia-Pacific Journal of Innovation in Hospitality and Tourism APJIHT

International Journal of Nutrition and Food Sciences

MILAGROS SUYU

Felicitas dela Cruz

Education about Asia

James Farrer

Chandana Jayasinghe

Yuk Wah Chan

Kritika Kultura

Rene B. Javellana

International Journal

Mishin Ackerman

Jasten Keneth D . Treceñe

Mark Joseph

Jenny Lynn Bitang

Penny Van Esterik

movieworld movieworld

Aylen Galicia

Shirley Guevarra

rochel bostrillo

Claudia Liebelt

Noela Lodevico-Palma

Joram Paul Jabonillo

Izelaye Felipe

Kim Rockell

Joycie Alegre

Eric S. Parilla

Ma. Gloria Jaba

RELATED TOPICS

•   We're Hiring!
•   Help Center
• Find new research papers in:
• Health Sciences
• Earth Sciences
• Cognitive Science
• Mathematics
• Computer Science
• Academia ©2024

Home — Essay Samples — Nursing & Health — Fast Food — Best street food

Best Street Food

• Categories: Fast Food National Cuisine Nutrition

About this sample

Words: 645 |

Published: Dec 5, 2018

Words: 645 | Page: 1 | 4 min read

Table of contents

Jaipur india, bangkok thailand, hanoi vietnam.

Cite this Essay

Let us write you an essay from scratch

• 450+ experts on 30 subjects ready to help
• Custom essay delivered in as few as 3 hours

Get high-quality help

Verified writer

• Expert in: Nursing & Health

+ 120 experts online

By clicking “Check Writers’ Offers”, you agree to our terms of service and privacy policy . We’ll occasionally send you promo and account related email

No need to pay just yet!

Related Essays

1 pages / 607 words

4 pages / 1793 words

2 pages / 836 words

4 pages / 2190 words

Remember! This is just a sample.

You can get your custom paper by one of our expert writers.

121 writers online

Still can’t find what you need?

Browse our vast selection of original essay samples, each expertly formatted and styled

Related Essays on Fast Food

Fast food has been a staple of the American diet since the early 1900s, and it has rapidly expanded over the past few decades. While fast food restaurants offer affordable and convenient meals, their impact on public health and [...]

Wendy's and McDonald's are two of the most recognizable brands in the world. Both companies have a long history of serving up delicious fast food to millions of customers every day. While they may seem similar at first glance, [...]

In a world filled with fast food chains and processed snacks, the importance of eating healthy cannot be overstated. As we navigate our daily lives, it's easy to prioritize convenience over nutrition, leading to a myriad of [...]

Adams, C. (2007). Reframing the obesity debate: McDonald’s role may surprise you. Journal of Law, Medicine, and Ethics, 35, 154-157.

The film SuperSize Me documents Morgan Spurlock going through with an experiment to diet only on McDonald’s for thirty days. The purpose of Spurlock’s experiment was to show people that eating unhealthy, junk food such as [...]

People always judges there who buy and eat fast food; however, why do they not stop for a minute to think that maybe there are circumstances that cause people to buy and eat fast food? There are three basic causes why people [...]

Related Topics

By clicking “Send”, you agree to our Terms of service and Privacy statement . We will occasionally send you account related emails.

Where do you want us to send this sample?

By clicking “Continue”, you agree to our terms of service and privacy policy.

Be careful. This essay is not unique

This essay was donated by a student and is likely to have been used and submitted before

Download this Sample

Free samples may contain mistakes and not unique parts

Sorry, we could not paraphrase this essay. Our professional writers can rewrite it and get you a unique paper.

Please check your inbox.

We can write you a custom essay that will follow your exact instructions and meet the deadlines. Let's fix your grades together!

Get Your Personalized Essay in 3 Hours or Less!

We use cookies to personalyze your web-site experience. By continuing we’ll assume you board with our cookie policy .

• Instructions Followed To The Letter
• Deadlines Met At Every Stage
• Unique And Plagiarism Free

Skip to main content

• Select your language English हिंदी

Festivals of India

Flagship Events

Timeless Trends

Digital District Repository

North-East Archive

Ajanta Caves

Textiles and Fabrics of India

Forts of India

Historic Cities of India

Intangible Cultural Heritage

Musical Instruments of India

Research Papers

Photo Essays

Food & Culture

Manuscripts

Museum Collections

Photo Archives

Gazettes and Gazetteers

Union Catalogue

Indian National Bibliography

Reports & Proceedings

Other Collections

Mumbai Street Food: Vital Food

The street culture of urban India is a multi-sensory experience. This is where life happens with daily acts such as walking, talking, running, sleeping, reading, shaving, cleaning, working, meeting, buying, selling, cooking and eating. The street provides an unparalleled setting for social interactions and the experience of urban life. Likewise, the streets of Mumbai city present grand and dynamic possibilities for the ultimate experience of urban life in India. For indeed, the city is forever on the move; it is full of life and vitality. At four in the morning, the city folks can be seen up and about at the seafront, enjoying life to the fullest.

The bustling streets of Mumbai

The city of Mumbai can be considered to be one of India's most cosmopolitan cities and it is here that people from all over India come to try their chance at life. It is truly the place where dreams are made and shattered for countless migrants. A noted filmmaker and screenwriter called the city, "the struggle, the vitality, hope, the aspiration to be something, anything." Noted as a central hub of commercial, film and advertising interests, Mumbai is a glittery prospect for those looking to hit the jackpot. It is not surprising, therefore, to find the city buzzing with electrifying energy and vibrancy. This spirit can be most intensely experienced on the streets. The streets of Mumbai offer, among many things, countless gastronomical delights.

In the Indian context, one of the earliest traditions of public dining can be traced to the caravanserai also called the khan which flourished during the Mughal period. These caravanserais were set up in cities and towns for providing food and drinks to weary travellers and were often vibrant sites offering delicious ready-made fare. The food vendors at street corners and those who sell food from handcarts of today can be said to carry forward the spirit of the caravanserai . Such a public form of food consumption has come a long way in the Indian subcontinent.

Street food caters to a wide variety of population of the city, Image Source: Flickr

Aloo-tikkis being fried, Image Source: Flickr

Mumbai is a popular destination when it comes to street food. Certain street food items have captured the imagination of the Mumbai public so much so that the city itself has come to be associated with them, like the iconic Bhelpuri or the Vada-pao . So, when a traveller goes to Mumbai, it is expected of them to get a taste of the famed Bhelpuri at Chowpatty beach. The street food culture of the city is embraced by a wide cross-section of the population from office workers, students, daily wage labourers, businessmen among others. A wide variety of food is offered on the streets despite the persistent problems of storage, regular water supply, policing and weather, faced by the street food vendors.

The Vada-pao consists of the Vada and the Pao . The Vada is a fried ball of battered potato, which is crushed in between two soft buns called the Pao . The bun is slathered with a sweet and spicy Chutney before the Vada is crushed between them. The Vada-pao is served with fried green chillies. It is Mumbai's most famous snack. It is sold by vendors in front of train stations, schools, hospitals, colleges, offices, street corners and parks. This cheap, tasty and filling snack is heartily consumed by a wide cross-section of the Mumbai public. Like most street foods, the Vada-pao is a convenience-food, it fulfills the roles of providing both sustenance and leisure for people. Another classic Mumbai street food is the Bhelpuri . It is intimately associated with the streets of the City of Dreams. The strains of a popular Bollywood song go as follows: “Mein toh raste se jaa rahi thi, bhelpuri kha rahi thi” (I was walking on the street, eating Bhelpuri). This casual reference to the snack in the song is significant since it links the snack directly to the every-day activity of walking on the street. The Pao-bhaji is a quintessentially Mumbaiya street snack. This delicious snack is made from mashed mixed vegetables cooked with spices and butter which constitutes the Bhaji . It is served with soft buns or the Pao which have been soaked in butter.

Vada Pao , Image Source: Wikimedia Commons

The Bombay street sandwich is a city-defining snack that is dearly loved by food enthusiasts across culinary lines. This vegetable sandwich consists of white bread stuffed with slices of beetroot, cucumber, boiled potato, tomato and onion. The white bread is first smeared with a generous portion of butter before being stuffed, after which it is firmly pressed in a sandwich maker and cooked over an open flame. The grilled sandwich is finally served with mint and coriander chutney. Some of the best Bombay street sandwich is served at the Fort area, around Kala Ghoda. The Misal-pav consists of a spicy curry made of sprouted moth beans served with potato, Chivda mix, Farsan or Sev and onions. This mix is then garnished with coriander and finished off with a squeeze of lemon. The Pav is soft and served dripping in butter.

There are some popular lanes in the city earmarked by food lovers as Khau Gallis or “treat lanes.” Khau is a Marathi term that stands for 'treat' and these Khau Gallis offer sumptuous street fare of innovative cuisine bearing influences from across the country. At New Marine Lines in Churchgate, there is the Khau Galli which extends from SNDT Women's University to Cross Maidan. Here, students and office workers jostle to get to the best Bombay sandwiches and Frankies . The Bombay-sandwich is a classic street food. It is a toasted sandwich made with cheese, spices and chutney. The Frankie is another unique Mumbaiya street food. It is a Roti (unleavened flatbread) wrap consisting of both vegetarian and non-vegetarian fillings. At the Chhatrapti Shivaji Maharaj Teminus (CSMT), a Khau Galli is lined up with food stalls offering dishes from across the country be it Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, or Punjab. It is close to the historic Fort area of the city which is a major commercial centre hosting everything from grand colonial-style office buildings, retail stores and street stalls. So, the Khau Galli becomes a convenient food stop for office goers and tourists exploring the amazing colonial heritage architecture. It is one of the major street food destinations of the city. Pao-bhaji and Vada-pao are the main attraction points here. The invention of Pav-bhaji is alleged to have taken place at Canon Pav Bhaji restaurant and it is at this particular Khau Galli where one can find it.

Misal Pav , Image Source: Wikimedia Commons

Kebabs being prepared, Image Source: Wikimedia Commons

At Borivali West, located in the northern part of the city, there exists a Khau Galli at Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Road. It is a hotbed of unique street food creations like the pizza Sev-puri or the Bahubali sandwich. The veritable jewel of Mumbai is the trendy and very upscale Bandra where the street food stalls at the Carter Road Khau Galli offer everything on the street food trail for food enthusiasts. At Mohammad Ali Road, situated near the Minara Masjid in South Mumbai, the world of fine non-vegetarian fare opens up for meat lovers and Mughlai food enthusiasts especially during the holy month of Ramzan. One can find here more than 400 non-vegetarian dishes like Kebabs and Keema , and around 100 desserts like Kheer and Malpua throughout the year. The Ghatkopar Khau Galli is located at the Vallabhbaug Lane Extension and this is where the vegetarians can expect to find delicious items like Dosas and cheesy grilled sandwiches. The cheesy grilled sandwiches are made with generous amounts of grated cheese blocks and the sandwich filling is stuffed with tomatoes, onions and capsicum. Some of the Dosa selections at this Khau Galli include such creations as the thousand island Dosa , ice cream Dosa and the cheese burst Sada Dosa .

Near Crawford Market, Mumbai's largest wholesale market, ravenous shoppers can tuck in at the Princess Street Khau Galli . The famous street food attraction at this Khau Galli is the ice Halwa . The Zaveri Bazar Khau Galli near Marine Lines Station is one of the affordable street food destinations in the city. From across this Khau Galli there is the Mangaldas Market Khau Galli . The snacks featured in these Khau Gallis have a Gujarati flavour to them and include popular items like Pudla, Moong-dal fry, Kachoris, Papri-chaat among others. Among shopping haunts, Santacruz is not only a haven for shoppers in the city but it is also a gem for street food enthusiasts. From popular street food fares like Chaats, Pani-puri, or Sev-puri to the Alu-ragda-pattice , Santacruz Khau Galli has it all. There is the mouth-watering cheese Dabeli made with sinful dollops of butter, refreshing Faluda shake, the ultimate in fusion cuisine- the Chinese Dosa , and the city's quintessential Alu masala cheese toast, among other outlandish snacks. There are many other Khau Gallis in Mumbai which are waiting for the footfalls of the ultimate food lovers. The city is grand in scale and vision, this spirit is well reflected in the overall culture of Mumbai, especially in the resplendent foods of the streets.

Indian Institute of Technology Bombay

• Phone . [email protected]
• Email . +54 356 945234

Indian Culture App

The Indian Culture Portal is a part of the National Virtual Library of India project, funded by the Ministry of Culture, Government of India. The portal has been created and developed by the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay. Data has been provided by organisations of the Ministry of Culture.

Email Id : [email protected]

My Favorite Food Essay

500 words essay on my favorite food.

In order to perform well in life, our body needs energy. We get this energy from the food we eat. Without food, there will be no life. In today’s world, there are so many dishes available worldwide. Food comes in a wide variety all around the world. Dosa, Paneer, Naan, Chapati, Biryani, and more Indian delicacies are available. We are also offered western cuisines such as noodles, pasta, burgers, fries, pizzas and more dominating the food industry. In my favourite food essay, I will tell you about the food I like eating the most.

My Favorite Food

As the world is advancing day by day, it is becoming easier to get access to many kinds of food at our doorstep. Every day, we all want to consume great and delicious cuisine. There are many different varieties of food accessible all throughout the world. We all like different foods, however, my personal favourite is burgers. I have eaten many cuisines but my favourite food is definitely a burger. I cannot resist myself when it comes to burgers.

Burgers are one of the most convenient and easiest foods to eat on the fly when we’re in a hurry. We can have a burger at any time of day, whether it’s breakfast, lunch, or supper, and maybe some fries and a Coke to go with it. Many restaurants are well-known for making their speciality burgers in a particular style. Preparation changes from one establishment to the next. But what exactly makes a burger taste so good? They will taste vary depending on where you go, but they are all built the same. It is made up of a bun, a ground meat patty, and various toppings like cheese, onion slices, lettuce, and other sauces.

They are so soft yet crunchy, fresh and juicy that I love eating them. Even though there are many kinds of burgers, my favourite one is a chicken burger. The chicken patty gives the burger a juicy taste and it tingles my taste buds every time I eat it. I can already smell and taste it in my mouth as soon as I walked inside McDonald’s or any other restaurant that serves chicken burgers. As soon as I take a huge mouthful of it, I forget about any problems or troubles that are going on in the outer world and concentrate my entire concentration just on my chicken burger.

I love eating a burger which is filled with cheese and vegetables . The more vegetables you add, the better it tastes. My personal favourite is lettuce. It gives the burger the right amount of freshness and crunchiness.

I always eat my burger with ketchup. Most importantly, the thing I love about eating burgers is that I get to eat French fries along with them. They work as a great side to the dish and also make my stomach full.

Even though I liked eating a burger from a famous fast food joint, nothing beats the chicken burger my mother makes at home. She prepares everything from scratch, even the burger. Thus, it is extremely fresh and healthy too.

I know and feel that burgers have the great flavour and taste that would make anyone’s stomach pleased after a long day of work. I can tell by the reactions on people’s faces when they order their preferred burger variant. Overall, I don’t believe any other fast food will taste as good as a chicken burger. It’s just difficult to think that something will triumph in the future. As a result, I consider my favourite dish to be the best ever created.

A Great Variety

Perhaps the great thing about burgers is the great variety they offer. It has options for all people, who prefer vegetarian, non-vegetarian and even vegans. Thus, you can select the patty of your burger and dive right in.

There are a large number of burger joints being started in every corner of the city, each serving a variety of their own specialised and self-curated recipes. Burgers that are health-friendly and a go-to with a diet are also being introduced by these newly upcoming burger places. There are a lot many burger cafes that give their customers the choice to create their own burgers by providing them with a choice between patties, fillings, veggies, sauces as well as the number of burger layers they want.

Even though my personal favourite is a chicken burger, I also enjoy eating cheeseburgers and vegetable burgers. For me, all burgers taste delicious. Whenever we go out to eat with friends , I always order a burger.

My friends who do not eat non-vegetarian also eat burgers thanks to the great variety it offers. When we order food at home, we make sure to offer all kinds of burgers from cheeseburgers to chicken burgers, so that we get a taste of everything in our meal. Thus, I love burgers and their great variety makes it better.

Get the huge list of more than 500 Essay Topics and Ideas

Conclusion of My Favorite Food Essay

Even though my favourite food is a burger, I enjoy other foods as well like Pizza and Pasta. However, I feel when it comes to eating daily, nothing beats homemade food. The food we eat daily is what helps us gain energy. We cannot eat our favourite food daily as it will become boring then, but our staple food is something we enjoy eating on an everyday basis.

FAQ of My Favorite Food Essay

Question 1: Why do we need food?

Answer 1: We need food because it provides nutrients, energy for activity, growth. Similarly, all functions of the body like breathing, digesting food, and keeping warm are made possible because of food. It also helps in keeping our immune system healthy.

Question 2: Should you eat your favourite food all the time?

Answer 2: No, never. Favourite foods are meant to be enjoyed when there is any special occasion, or when you are tired of your regular homemade food. Eating too much of your favourite food will make your taste buds adjust to it and eventually, it will not remain our favourite. Excess of anything is bad and the same goes for our favourite food. Thus, we must eat it occasionally so that it remains our favourite.

Question 3: Is fast food healthy? Should we not consume fast food at all?

Answer 3: Fast food is often high in calories, sodium, and harmful fat, with one meal frequently providing enough for a whole day. It is also deficient in nutrients and nearly devoid of fruit, vegetables, and fibre. That doesn’t mean you should completely avoid fast food. It is feasible to eat fast food without jeopardising your healthy diet. Take advantage of the nutritious side dishes available at many fast-food places. Look for meals that include lean proteins, vegetables, and fibre, and avoid anything that is supersized.

Customize your course in 30 seconds

Which class are you in.

• Travelling Essay
• Picnic Essay
• Our Country Essay
• My Parents Essay
• Essay on Favourite Personality
• Essay on Memorable Day of My Life
• Essay on Knowledge is Power
• Essay on Gurpurab
• Essay on My Favourite Season
• Essay on Types of Sports

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Download the App